A Man Without A Hearth
by Hero of Olympus in Disguise
Summary: Hopeless and on the streets, a distraught Percy Jackson has not been seen for years, but now there is one person that needs him more than ever and she needs him now. Who will find the hero of heroes? Who will fix him? Can it get any better? Remember, hope always survives best at the hearth, but what if you don't have a hearth to come home to? Originally by CourtingTheMoon.
1. Chapter 1

**Originally by CourtingTheMoon! The first eight chapters that I'll be uploading are by CourtingTheMoon. After I'm done uploading those chapters I'll leave an AN saying which chapters are my work. Enjoy COURTINGTHEMOON's chapters for now.**

A Man Without a Hearth

CH. 1

Nothing Left

…

Aquaphobia is not something that a man like him should have. He was born to be in water, born to the king of the seas himself, but this man fears what he is drenched in now. The water dripping off of his unkempt void black and ghostly gray hair and beard. His wild green eyes have lost their color, formerly a color reminiscent of the sea, now a gray-green that leaves nothing of wonder, only pity.

The man was soaked because he was screaming again; this was a normal thing and was the reason he couldn't stay in the same place twice. And honestly the water from the trash can was the better of two options that the other man could have used to wake him up, seeing as it was still early enough for there to be embers glowing in the can used for the fire last night. But both have been used on the aquaphobiac and he would have preferred the burning bits of paper and wood that might warm him instead of the very substance that mocked him from the day he emerged from the pit.

The water was followed now by a foot, "You just cheated me of my beauty rest punk." The grungy man growled. "Why don't you just go to the next overpass and leave us be, freak."

No fight responded to it, and why would there be? The man he just kicked hasn't spoken a word for the last 7 years, commonly known amongst their kind as the 'hopeless' one.

The hopeless one just shuffled away, his eyes looking as lost as always and just leaving in silence like he usually would and avoiding the crowds of onlookers the best he could. This was what he expected to find in this city just like the others, he had been kicked out of every major city's homeless community from Miami to Seattle, so why would Portland be different. He knew that there was water here, and plenty of it and it frightened him, the rain always threatening to drown him again. But he had to make sure that he was never found again, but he was literally running from Fate.

 _You are needed again Perseus. Go home to the Hearth._

The voices continued like that for the last 7 years now and the only thing he could do is continue on with his numb life. Nothing left.

He had tried to end it too, stabbing himself in the chest a few times, only to feel a little tingle have the wound heal. He tried the spot that used to be his mortal point only to feel the same tingle. When in Los Angeles he walked into a gang territory and attempted to get shot a few times, and he did. But there is a reason that if he ever went to California again that someone that saw him would run away screaming something about a ghost.

Once when he felt daring he jumped into a fire, another time he laid down on a railroad track and even another time climbed a lightning rod in the middle of a tornado in Kansas only to be hit by lightning, knocked out and to wake up with a nice little note that said _Not Yet._

They were mocking him, the Fates. He had lived a life that they wanted that left him with nothing and broken, no family, no life; only fear and depression. And he couldn't stop any of it because they weren't done destroying him yet. Obviously he had more to give if they wouldn't let him finish it. Not even allowing him to commit suicide and receiving eternal punishment was good enough for the Fates, no they needed him to suffer more and that is why he wouldn't listen when the three sisters tried to get him to go back to the ones he let down. No he wouldn't… couldn't face any of them again. Not after the war, not the deaths.

And all of this started because he had to save her, had to be brave for her and had to take it all. He wasn't bitter about it, no he would do it again because that is who he was, he blamed the bitch that he killed for the troubles he want through not the girl that he saved so many times. But he couldn't live through all the pain, the fear and the utter torture that the pit offered him. No, he died when he fell that day and he knew it, the only ones denying it were the Fates and the hopeful. But Percy had no hope, not since Tartarus.

…

 _The looks he received were dangerous, not anger but pity and sadness. It was dangerous because the only thing he felt was regret and a sadness that would never be fixed. His eyes had dimmed since the pit, his gray strip of hair on his head had spread to make his hair a salt and pepper look that reminded him of one of the people he lost, it was similar to his high school english teacher, his step-father and mother had been killed before he could come back and see them after he was taken to the roman camp. No goodbye or even a hello. He was ripped away from his life for a good purpose only for his life to be ripped away from him because he couldn't do enough._

" _Hey Perce!" The small Latino elf called out to him._

" _Leo." Percy responded with a smile, not his smile but one that could be used to fool those that didn't want to look far enough._

" _Annabeth and I got Fest' fitted for some naval excursions and we were wondering if you wanted to help with testing, Aquaman?" Leo didn't notice the flinch that Percy made, and just like everyone else he didn't seem to notice that Percy hadn't even used his water powers in the month and a half that they had been back from Greece; since he turned down immortality for a second time because he knew that he couldn't live anymore, even though he told everyone else to take it and surprised them all when using his end of the war wish to get the demigods better lives and ensuring peace._

" _Nah man, you and Annabeth have been working all week on this and I know that with the Daedalus laptop and that Archimedes ball of yours that it is all working great. I'm just going for a walk so I'll see you at dinner alright?" Percy was walking away before he got a response. He was headed for the forest away from the creek; hopefully he could clear his head there._

" _Well… Ok." Leo sounded slightly defeated but didn't catch on to the underlying defeat that had been lacing Percy's voice since the 'victory'._

…

 _The screaming started earlier tonight and the restless campers who were still awake heard the torturous cries that came form the Poseidon cabin. Annabeth, Jason and Chiron were the first to make it in to see Percy in bed but with his back arched a good foot off the bed in pain, the scars and sweat very visible on his bare chest. All three had seen the marks before but the cries were new._

 _Annabeth sat on the bad quickly putting her hands on Percy's shoulders trying to wake him. Jason watched as his brother's face went from the pain and anguish that it was in it's sleep to wake up and bolt up in surprise before morphing the same mask he used for the last 3 months, one of sarcasm and humor._

 _Percy tried to play it off; Jason didn't believe it because he could feel some of the same emotions that Percy felt now, the defeat and the self-loathing that they both received from the war. Chiron had realization of what was happening, having seen it himself several times in his teaching, the war-torn emotions that Percy was currently fighting were a common place for those that had lost so much. And Annabeth knew Percy better than that; she knew that he hurt more than all of them because he was the one to carry the world on his shoulders so that no one else had to._

 _Percy wouldn't falter on his mask though, pushing them out of his cabin telling them to get their rest for activities tomorrow._

 _But when they left Percy couldn't go back to sleep; the marks that marred his skin were throbbing in remembrance. So Percy went over to the box he kept on his dresser pulling out the pictures that held most of his pain. There was the one of Piper kissing Jason on the cheek while they watched the sunset on the Argo 2 that Leo took as blackmail. Tyson and Clarisse posing with Percy, Grover and Annabeth with the fleece brought back the memories of the better days. Travis carrying Percy on his and Connors shoulders after capture the flag, and Reyna in a picture that was taken at the feast of Fortuna after the battle of New Rome. Nico was in a photo from his birthday all those years ago, blue frosting all over his face. Then finally a picture that Sally and Paul insisted on taking with Percy when they went to Montauk a week after the Battle of Manhattan with Annabeth._

 _These weren't the only ones that died in the war but three of them died protecting someone else, Piper taking an arrow for Jason that was laced in Centaur blood, Travis fought the Minotaur and two cyclops by himself so that Connor could carry Katie to the Apollo campers and Tyson in his innocence had joined Percy in a fight with Leon, the lion giant before they had any gods for help and held the maw of the giant open so that it didn't eat Percy. Clarisse fought harder than anyone else and was killed when she fought the giant bane of Ares to a stalemate with the help of Percy before he was distracted by Gaia herself and she was killed by a lucky shot. Reyna had been slain by that traitor Octavian while the Romans were heading to battle against the giants, it was Jason that finally caught the spy and with his rage ripped the head with the silver tongue right off the twig of a body._

 _It was Nico that found the doors of Death on the other side and after getting the pair out closed the door the only way they could be, sacrifice._

 _And then his parents had been the trigger for Percy's final rage, the one that ended the war. Gaia had kidnapped them and was using them to stop Percy from fighting, and had Percy been told that she had them he wouldn't have fought but Annabeth had intercepted the message and Sally told her not to let Percy know. Paul was able to stab Porphyrion with a fallen spear that made the giant crush him with his foot and Percy's mom was pierced through he chest with the monster's spear. And it was their blood that soaked into the earth and gave Gaia her body and fully awoke her._

 _It was because Percy saw their bodies that caused him to go into such a blinding rage that allowed him to summon so much power that he shook the earth below Gaia's feet knocking her largest son and herself to the ground only for Porphyrion to be beheaded by Percy and for Gaia to be fought by Percy to the point where he drove his sword through her heart and twisted it while she choked on the ichor that crept out of her mouth._

 _The Moirai had come and collected the body of Gaia that hadn't dissolved like all the rest, it was them that announced to the council of the god that Percy had fought her with such power and force in his aura that had forced her soul to fade out of her body, ending the threat of there ever being another war with Gaia again._

 _But all of this still burned Percy. His parents had been killed because he couldn't protect them, all of his friends died because he wasn't strong enough, some of them died because he left them alone for too long and he was angry, angry at himself because it was all his fault._

…

He killed them and he knew it. Some argued with him before and still the voices are telling him that he didn't but Percy knows that they lie to him. Just like saying he is needed, no one needs a murderer. And Percy was the worst kind, how many innocents died because of him and how many more trusted him and he killed them.

Some still call him a hero, not that he knows. But Percy knows better then all of them. He knows the truth, because Percy was the one to do it all, he lives with the weight on his shoulders so he knows that he did it.

Percy Jackson was no hero. No, Percy Jackson was a monster and now the monster supposed to die. Just like all those he killed before, Percy should be dead.

…

" _Are you sure about this man? I mean it has always been you two and I know that you two will get back together again. I can't compete with you."_

" _Leo, I am positive. You will make her happier than I ever did. You two actually have interests in common and you know that we haven't been the same since Tartarus. I want you to make her and yourself happy." 'And you won't have Athena watching your every move because of your father.' He added silently._

" _But dude, you and Annabeth… Are you sure? I mean she likes me?" Leo asked hopefully._

" _I know she does, besides we had our break up like 2 months ago, that is plenty of time to wait for it to cool down Fireboy."_

" _Okay if you say so…" Leo said looking for any sign of deception or regret in Percy's eyes, but as usual he couldn't read anything off of the son of Poseidon. "Well then, I have a date then with a beautiful daughter of Athena and a happy dragon, see you later Perce."_

 _This was just another thing that Percy had started to do, he was trying to make everyone happy. Jason was currently in a 'close-friends' relationship with Lou-Ellen from Hecate cabin, he seemed to be doing better after Percy talked him out of blaming himself for Piper or Reyna's death, both of which would have hurt Jason if they knew he blamed himself. So even though Percy still took all the blame internally it was simple enough to get Jason to get over it. Katie and Connor were there to comfort each other but Percy gave them the final push by scheduling them together for almost everything. Chris had started to see Kinzie from the Amazon when they opened up a branch in New York so they could be better connected to Camp Olympus. Frank and Hazel were happy enough together and Leo had just been set up with Percy's ex because he knew that they were better for each other than for Annabeth to waste her time on a broken man._

 _Several of his friends still worried about Percy but he was too stubborn with his mask of joy to let them see that he was frozen on the inside. He was able to avoid water for the most part, never having anything but regular cherry coke to drink at dinner and juices for other meals, never going swimming and using clean wipes for showers instead of the stalls in the bathrooms. He even puts himself on flag duty during capture the flag so he wouldn't have to be near the creek._

 _But as long as his mask was up no one noticed Percy's pain, even Chiron was waning on his belief that Percy needed help, he was stubborn but not enough to go an entire year with a mask on, he must have been doing better._

 _But one person was strangely watching Percy throughout the year, Dionysus was no longer the camp councilor for the brats because one of them wanted to have a camp united and happy, but it was that brat that he worried would be the first to fall into his domain. Hearing that the boy had gone so far as knocking out that Anna-Marie girl and made it through the center of Tartarus with only his own wits and strength, which Perry had a surprising amount of both, would have strained his mind beyond what it could handle so surely he would have some problem, then losing his mother would have pushed him farther. The god of madness had felt the insanity encroaching on the boy while he singlehandedly fought mother earth but that was when the mask went up, when the boy stopped showing his emotions and cause many to worry._

 _Only one watched Percy with more interest than the god of wine, Hestia was watching the man that she would openly admit to be her favorite person ever. And she was worried because while he was sacrificing to her and his father she could see that he had started to sacrifice more and when he left there was still more on his plate. That and he had stopped praying all together, he used to pray just to talk to her and Poseidon but he wasn't doing any of it anymore and she was worrying about him._

 _It was a month later that the two gods found their worries to be true. He had started waning his contact with everyone inconspicuously before simply vanishing one day for no one to be able to find him. And it was seven years ago that this all happened._

 _It was seven years ago that Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Hero of Olympus, Praetor of the twelfth legion, Terror of Monsters, Bane of Titans, Destroyer of Giants and Slayer of the earth itself vanished from the world._

…

His mask had long since burnt away, leaving the broken man to weather all storms, but when a time comes when he is needed again will there be anything left to help?

Percy had given up eating all together 5 years ago; his ribs were always evident through his ghostly pale skin. His shirt and jacket looked like they could have fit his father in his godly form, they were so large on his brittle frame. His beard; it was knotted and dirty from the lack of ever cleaning it, but then again so was everything about him. His hair met his shoulder blades and still seemed to be even parts of the blackest of blacks and a silvery gray from the unholy stresses this one body has endured. He wore some jeans that had long ago lost the left pant leg, showing off a leg riddle of scars that no one could decipher from where they originated but Percy knew the look of the claw and blade marks like the back of his hand because even to this day they still throb when ever Percy forgets to numb his entire body.

And to finish his look he had no shoes or socks to cover his feet, feet that were identical to each other from the grotesque amount of dirt on them to the one vertical scar that only Percy knew was from a scythe blade being stabbed into feet before he was allowed to leave Tartarus, scars that made walking a pain even though that is all he ever does.

These scars are from fighting almost as much as they are from the deal he struck up in Tartarus to ensure Annabeth's safety and their escape. A deal that changed him almost equal to the tortures that the nature of Tartarus showed him. His greatest fears were thrown at him only to later be matched by a grandfather that has anger problems.

Now all Percy had were scars, physical and mental. So to him he had nothing left.


	2. Chapter 2

**By CourtingTheMoon**

Ch. 2

Olympus is cold

…

Olympus wasn't known to be cold; only on the most dreaded of occasions has Olympus ever been silent. The four wars could be seen as such occasions, and then there was the announcement of the missing hero. Perseus Jackson's disappearance had made Olympus go silent and the hearth has been cooling ever since.

It was the fire of home that kept Olympus warm, and with the loss of the hopeful hero, the goddess that tended the flame began to wither. It took a while for people to notice sadly, she was the forgotten goddess for a reason. But Artemis and Athena both noticed that she wasn't tending the hearth for more than one meeting in a row, and that was not a promising sight. With a search they eventually found the goddess curled up in the fetal position in a garden in the back of Olympus away from all activity, above her was a _Guardian of Olympus_ or so the statues were called. All were of Percy Jackson, the hero above all. Statues that stood to protect Olympus from intruders in the future; Annabeth took the idea from the automatons in New York and transferred the idea to Olympus.

But the goddess was in what looked like a troubled sleep, shuddering at random times but wouldn't wake up. Artemis and Athena both worried heavily now for their aunt and went to pick up the 8 year old goddess only then to realize she was wrapped around something in her fallen state. Not just anything though, an ancient pithos that Athena recognized with a gasp.

"Artemis, that is Pandora's pithos." Artemis gave her own gasp.

The two sisters debated a while before deciding to move their aunt, conjuring a stretcher and carrying her to Apollo's temple.

Artemis banged on the door only to be answered by a glum looking Apollo, for the few years that Percy has been missing all the gods that had personally met him were all lower than they usually were, and Apollo was one of them, especially because he couldn't get a prophecy about his whereabouts.

When Apollo opened the door and saw his comatose aunt. He brought all of them to the infirmary area of his palace, placing Hestia on one of the beds and then standing over her chanting quietly in Ancient Greek with a godly golden aura shining down on her from his glowing hands.

While he was doing this, the sisters just stood watching not able to discuss more, and none of them dared to try and remove the pithos that resided in her clutch.

It was a full 30 minutes later that Apollo turned wearily to his sisters, obviously straining himself with putting so much energy into Hestia.

"What happened?" He asked.

So Artemis explained to him how they found her, Athena adding in her own observations. The two covered everything they knew including the identity of the pithos that was so tightly clutched in the hands of the 8 year old. It was then that the lights seemed to dim, Apollo's eyes widened and started to glow green and the ominous green smoke drifted into the room. The chorus of three sisters replaced Apollo's voice:

 _The hero afraid of his seas_

 _Has brought the world to its knees_

 _The earth claims his last hope_

 _The original held at throat_

 _Fading is the one that is broken_

 _A goddess needing the one not spoken_

 _Hearth dies for all days_

 _If love not brought from its haze_

 _A daughter brought from flame_

 _Bringer of hope; of the name_

 _Darkness and cold soon to flee_

 _But only with the greatest one's recovery_

Apollo crashed to the floor quickly, his breathing heavily weighted. Neither Artemis nor Athena were able to help him after hearing the prophecy.

It obviously about Hestia and if Athena's brain was right it meant that Hestia was fading and their only hope was a hero. But the only hero that had brought the world to its knees was Percy Jackson himself. ' _A hero afraid of his seas'_ No! Athena gasped.

Percy Jackson was afraid of the water, and then he must have run away in shame that he couldn't face his own father's domain. So that means that Percy has to save Hestia? But why?

Athena was still trying to run through it all in her mind when Artemis finally noticed her brother on the floor breathing heavily from the strain of not only the healing but also an extremely powerful prophecy.

Artemis got Apollo in the next bed and got him a large helping of nectar before he was able to stabilize his breathing. She then turned back to Athena who was lost in her thoughts, burning through all the theories she could about what was happening.

"We need to bring this to the council." Artemis stated quickly, breaking Athena out of her musings.

"I'll get them, you bring Apollo once he is stable." Athena stated before flashing out.

…

The council was gathered around before the last 3 flashed in, Apollo was heavily leaning on Athena and Artemis as they carried him to his throne and assuming their own places.

"Daughters what is this about, we just dismissed the council, I am sure what ever your did to Apollo could have waited until tomorrow." Zeus grumbled a little because it looked like Artemis and Apollo had another fight.

Artemis spoke, "No father we have found Hestia; who hasn't been attending her hearth lately. She is fading." It was rather blunt and had a large effect on the council. Gasps were heard all around, Aphrodite even began to tear up, Poseidon paled and everyone was in a saddened state.

Athena broke in though, "But we have a prophecy that may save her." Some grew worried; others had a hopeful gleam in their eyes, and still some were hopelessly depressed.

"Well what is it?" Ares was as impatient as ever, even when he had found peace between his aspects.

With a slight reluctance Athena recited the prophecy, at first some were confused, others grew more worried, and Aphrodite only perked up at the word ' _love'._ The elders on the council seemed worried about losing their sister, the younger ones of their aunt.

But then Athena decided to share her theory, "I believe this prophecy is about Hestia and Perseus."

Poseidon was as white as Hades as was most of the council, but Zeus and Ares were both confused.

"But my son has been dead for millennia and there is no way that he would be afraid of Poseidon's waters, he lived a happy life, how could this be about him?" Zeus spoke, and Ares gave a ghostly nod of his head, still holding a generally confused face.

"No father, I mean Perseus Jackson." Athena snapped, as always angered by ignorance.

Poseidon started to piece together some of the words now, "Wait, it can't be Percy. He is my son, and has always been fond of his powers there is no way that he would be afraid of the seas. No he is off somewhere on an island for some peace and quiet." That was always what Poseidon hoped; he had hoped that Percy had found someplace safe and quiet just to clear his head after so many years of war at a young age.

"I think that is why he ran away, he was embarrassed by his aquaphobia, I don't know how he got it but it has to be him, no one else has ever brought the world to it's knees. His earthquake during the final battle with Gaea had driven her to her knees along with most of us, it is only probable that it is him." Athena had her lecturing voice on, one best seen with a teacher or one of her children who happens to be talking at any time.

"Okay but who is this 'daughter brought from flame'? A fire-user daughter of Hephaestus perhaps?" Hera offered. She wasn't proud that her children didn't keep true to their marriages but she was fond of his last fire-using child, Leo.

"It is not common that I make more than one fire-user at a time, that has only happened once and they were 80 years apart." Hephaestus reasoned.

"No, that isn't it." Artemis said, "If this prophecy is about Hestia then it will be her child, she is just as much a fire goddess as you are a fire god Hephaestus."

"Hestia won't have a child, she made a vow!" Zeus cried indignantly.

"Yes she will." Zeus' head snapped towards the offending speaker, "It says that love will be brought from its haze, that is the love that Hestia has for the hero, obviously she started fading the same time that Percy left." Aphrodite supplied, surprising many of them that she could think logically at all. "I don't know how I missed it, I always try to get you virgin goddesses to give up on your silliness but I was too stuck on the perfection of my favorite couple that I ruled out other options. I worked so hard on Percabeth only for it to fail because Percy is supposed to be with Hestia!" She looked as if she had just found out the reason of life, her smile was so big.

"We still haven't decided it was Percy," Poseidon protested, "It could be anyone else, I mean why does it have to be Percy, he has been through so much and he is finally away from all this prophecy garbage. I just want my son to be happy." He started to sound desperate and was receiving pitiful glances from council members.

"Well I believe that it is obvious that Perseus is this hero but it seems it could turn out well for him." Artemis stated, "it says 'Darkness and cold soon to flee' that means that as long as we find Perseus and bring him back to Hestia and then everything will be better." Artemis said optimistically, obviously trying to cheer up those that were not looking less than hopeful.

"But it does say that Hestia would fade if we don't find him and no one knows where he is." Athena had to state with no emotion at all. But her face immediately showed regret when Poseidon started to vocally sob.

Despite his face showing immense displeasure Zeus reached over from his throne and patted Poseidon on the back in a 'manly' way of comfort.

Demeter tried to supply her own comfort, "The boy is very strong and a great hero, we will find him because he is needed." This wasn't the most comforting thing to say to Poseidon, as he didn't want his son needed but still the certainty that they would find him was nice.

"Yeah we will find Perce real quick if we all look, the reason we didn't get any prophecies for him before was because it wasn't time yet, but now we are going to get him." Hermes sounded happier than anyone else, but that may be because of the need he had for finding Percy and the optimism that he always has.

…

The council meeting had continued and ideas were spread around to figure out how to find the son of Poseidon. Athena had ruled out the seas and coastal locations but kept open the options abroad and others that would have before been ruled out, like previous hideouts and stops made on quests, she stayed on Olympus running an HQ with maps and charts to check the entire globe. Poseidon though was too distraught to do anything so after his domain was ruled out he stayed in his throne in a state of depression waiting for news of his son.

Artemis had immediately gathered her hunters and started their quest with the use of three of the more respectful fauns and her wolves all searching for the scent of the sea where is didn't belong. Hermes and Apollo both searched from the air, one flying above the other driving, but they both were reaching out with their godly senses. Demeter began to search throughout the world with the help of Persephone, Hera and Aphrodite. Zeus rallied the storm spirits and the winds and ordered them to search for him. Dionysus did the same with the nature spirits and the satyrs/fauns. Hephaestus went to his forge and created countless automatons of small sizes that began their search for Percy Jackson in any location they could access. All were using godly senses to identify the scent of the sea that isolated him specifically.

Ares drew the short straw because he didn't volunteer for any other form of searching. He was in charge of informing Camp Olympus and send out quests for the hero.

"Lord Ares," Chiron bowed before the god of war, "What can I do for you? Your children are currently in the sword arena if that is what you are looking for."

"No Chiron, I need you to get all the camp leaders or what ever and bring them here, the immortals too." Ares grunted; it was amazing how he could grunt such a sentence but with the displeasure of his job was seeping through him. He never was such a fan of that Jackson punk but he would make a good punching bag when he got back. And Ares didn't want to see his aunt fade, she was kind to him when he was young so the god owed her, albeit begrudgingly.

"Is there a problem?" The centaur asked.

"A prophecy came from Apollo, now we need a few quests to go out." Ares replied.

"Of course then" Chiron then cantered off to begin rounding up the camp leaders and the immortal instructors.

Ares makes his way into the war room, ever since the camp merge there was an actual war room now, a round table that could hold near 50 campers, all of the eldest of the gods as well as elected campers and the immortals to all sit and debate about the camp.

It was Jason that entered first followed by Lou-Ellen who was holding his hand and a rather eccentric boy of Apollo named Will, all of them immortal for the effort they put into the wars and surviving.

They were followed by a few of the cabin leaders; Lacy, Colton, Henry, Jonathan, Fiona, Alicia and Greg from Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hecate, Athena, Ares, Nike and Demeter cabin respectfully.

This was followed by Connor and Katie Stoll who at the age of 23 were expecting their first child in a few months. Frank and Hazel followed next with Hazel still wearing an impressive golden ring on her finger with Chinese symbols wrapping around it and a large stone perched on top.

Next to arrive in a wave were the councilors of Hypnos, Zeus, Hermes, Apollo, Bellona, Dionysus, Eros, Nemesis, Eris, Morpheus, the wind gods and Iris cabins; Cinna, Hector, Nicola, Bob, Patrick, Sarah, Naomi, Victor, Natasha, Luigi, Harry, Bruce, Clark and Brenda. Along with the elected war leaders of the camp Orion, son of Zeus, Martha, Daughter of Mars, Cliff, son of Athena and Jedediah, son of Tyche.

Almost immediately after that is the pair of Annabeth and Leo, one covered in soot and with a singed left eyebrow. Following them was the rest of the camp leaders and the other immortals. Everyone took their seats and looked at Ares expectantly but none talked realizing that they were waiting for Chiron to arrive which he did shortly after coming through the door surprisingly accompanied by Lupa and the frizzy haired oracle, Rachel on his back.

Once everyone was around the table Ares stood, after combining his aspects he has gotten some of the mannerism of Roman leadership in his regular life. "A prophecy has been ordered and we need you kids to find a hero." A few of the more ADHD children started to whisper amongst themselves.

"What kind of hero Lord Ares?" Lupa asked still in the form of a giant wolf standing at the side of the table.

"We have to find Percy Jackson." Ares stated bluntly looking straight at the oracle, as if trying to will her to go into a trance.

Chaos erupted amongst the councilors, almost all of them wished to be as good as the man that had saved the world. Only the immortals and a few of the older councilors had ever met the hero, and those that had grown excited, worried and depressed at this. Annabeth and the rest of the surviving seven eyes went far away, obviously remembering something of the past.

Chiron looked every bit the thousands of years of his age at the simple name of his lost child. And Lupa, the great wolf shifted into her human form, something she began doing more often when she started to spend more time in the camps; and in the form of a beautiful woman she fell in to the chair a face of focus and sadness.

The only person to speak was the elected son of Zeus, Orion, "How do we find a man who is probably dead? I mean he is old now, without immortality he is getting weary and all alone his scent would have called the monsters to him. There is no way that he is still alive, I mean I couldn't live in the mortal world because of my scent and his must be so strong because of his age now." There was a pride to his voice that suggested that he was pompous but no one could speak any wrong of Percy Jackson, the hero of heroes, and the reason that most of them even found camp or were claimed.

Ares sneered at the punk not liking being questioned, "There is a prophecy that requires him and we will have to find him, the entire council is currently scouting for him, Athena herself is coordinating the efforts."

Annabeth perked up at the mention of her mother; there was always a connection between the mother/daughter intellects that pushed them together. "What is the prophecy?"

Ares put on a look of thought, it wasn't truly decided if they would tell the demigods the prophecy, seeing as it didn't tell them where he was but it wouldn't hurt for them to know. Give them urgency to hear that a goddess was fading. So Ares recited the prophecy to them, the entire room silent except for the prophecy and the sound of a few legs rubbing together in anxiety.

When Ares was finished he continued with the thoughts, "Athena has come to believe that this prophecy states that Hestia is fading fast and that she needs the help of Jackson or she will be gone forever. We aren't sure of all of it for it could have several meanings but it is believed that we have to reunite them or she will fade and Olympus will fall into darkness because of the loss of the hearth, a crucial part of the life of the place." He explained.

Annabeth had a look on her face, exactly like her mother when she had heard the prophecy and was running through the possibilities. But while she did that Leo piped in, "It said a daughter brought from flame, does that have anything to do with this?" He asked while simultaneously lighting his hand on fire.

"We believe that the daughter will be Jackson's and Hestia's, or at least that is the best theory." Ares grunted.

"What does it mean of the earth claiming his last hope? We beat Gaia, Percy did. She faded so there is no way that the earth can claim his last hope." Jason argued, supplying his own thoughts.

Annabeth was the one to reply, always ready with her two drachmas, "The earth can claim things in more than one way. It could mean that he has to bury something or someone. Or maybe an earthly natural disaster, they have been happening recently around the world and Lord Poseidon denied any responsibility."

It was finally the elected leader Jedediah that was able to get his words in to ask the most important question, "How do we find Percy then?"

It was at those words that the room darkened, a green mist formed and Rachel's eyes became an unnatural green instead of her regularly pleasant green emerald eyes.

 _The huntress watches the trail_

 _The hero turning frail_

 _Hidden with the soldier of old_

 _Darkness weakens its hold_

 _Path followed by Luck and Love_

 _Giving the hero a final shove_

 _Three heroes leave for the quest_

 _To find the sea's very best_

 _The son of Luck falls to Death_

 _Bringing a new breath_

 _Lead by the daughter of the sky_

 _Find the hero that cannot die_

 _Four find home again_

 _But return without him_

"That doesn't sound good." Connor Stoll blurted out as a pregnant Katie who was sitting next to the redhead was helping Rachel back into her seat.

It was Jedediah again that responded, "No, it doesn't."

"We will have to call lady Artemis, my sister is the only daughter of the sky that can go on quests." Jason submitted.

Chiron decided to speak then, "Yes we will have to send word immediately for a rendezvous. It is too long of a wait to wait on them to arrive. And them we have two more companions to Thalia, children of Aphrodite or Eros and then I believe Jedediah, as the only son of Tyche of age for a quest."

"So we will send Jedediah to his death just to get a hero that the gods could find?" Martha asked, Jedediah and her came to camp together and she thought of him as the younger brother she enjoyed to wail on when he got all snarky.

"While the prophecy is most foreboding I still find that the odds are even on my death at the moment Mar', so I will go." Jedediah stood up, looking around for anyone to question him, and no one could think of it as the 15 year old stood and looked at all of them.

"I will go to," A feminine voice came up behind the large 18-year-old Colton, son of Hephaestus. Lacy stood up from behind her boyfriend at her height of 5'8" she looked every bit the beauty queen that all Aphrodite girls become, he long blond hair in waves down her back, "I am the oldest child of love that isn't retired and with a family so I will go, it will do well because Percy will remember me too, it will help if I get to him before Thalia if we get separated." Not many could argue with her, not many would want to, she was the only daughter of Aphrodite left in camp that had been trained by The Piper, she was known as a wicked fighter with a knife and was highly opinionated and fought for it.

Chiron nodded at both of his standing campers, proud of what they were willing to do for a goddess they never actually met and a hero they all strived for.

"Wait," the voice came out from the son of Athena elect, Cliff, "The prophecy says that you are going to fail, there is no reason to go out and risk your lives so that you will be killed for nothing." This received a few tentative nods before Jedediah looked at his brother in arms and said what needed to be said.

"If we are not willing to try for the greatest of us then what of the rest?" And then he walked out, followed shortly by Lacy after she kissed the cheek of her boyfriend, both intent on a quick departure.

"Annabeth, contact Thalia and ask for her help. We will just have to pray that they can find Percy soon." Chiron ordered as many began to get up to leave.

As Ares got ready to leave and heard Chiron say that all he could mutter was, "Pray to who?" Before flashing away to Olympus.


	3. Chapter 3

**By CourtingTheMoon**

Ch. 3

Soldier of old and new

It was just another day in Portland, the chilled air damp after the spring storm and Percy would be shivering like all the others if not for the fact that he no longer cared about his health or anything that happened to him. But his body isn't infallible.

No Percy's body was suffering more now than ever before, the cold burned into his skin like never before. The starvation was actually there, he hadn't eaten in over five years and only now does he truly feel it. The last bit of sleep he had was a week ago and that was the 20 minutes he had before the screaming and the torture happened again. But worst was the rain, it came down on him, he was imagining all those times he drowned. He was in the worst condition he could be in, and then it got worse.

The voices said they were looking. They were coming for him, but Percy didn't know why, probably to try and kill him, hopefully, they could finish off the one that murdered so many of them, as they should.

The sisters told him about a quest looking for him along with all of the gods. All of them just for one monster, he should be honored.

But Percy couldn't go much longer, he was hobbling his way down highway 99 avoiding most people, his shoulders slumped in the symbol of defeat and his entire body was sagging as if itself trying to give up on a life he couldn't leave by himself.

But then the darkness encroached and Percy was happy, it was finally happening he was going to leave soon. The life of horror was almost over and now he could finally just die.

 _It wasn't all dark and emptiness; no there was hellfire every now and again. The pits of Tartarus were believed to be just dark and never ending prison cells, but no this was the place of nightmares, literally._

 _All of your worst fears happen in the pit, people go mad because everything that ever happened to them is thrown in their face and then they are stabbed in the back. Repeatedly._

 _But Annabeth can't deal with this, no Percy would always protect her, he was there for her._

 _She was draped on his shoulder on his left side, Anaklusmos clutched in his right hand. He was trudging his way through hell for her and he would he would make it if it were the last thing he did. But there was a problem, they were being watched, they were being hunted. The pits of Tartarus housed every monster Percy ever killed, along with all of the titans and giants that he had slain. The hissing sound was always near but Percy couldn't find where it was coming from besides the darkness._

" _I'll get you out of here Annabeth." Percy said to her dormant form. He had knocked her out when she couldn't walk; he needed to get her out with as little exposure to the terrors of Tartarus._

" _Percy how could you let us fall?" It was her voice again, "You don't love me enough to protect me."_

Percy had tears running down his cheeks again, "No, no Annabeth, I love you more than anything, I will get us out of here and then we can go live a good life without all the fighting." Percy was grasping for straws to please the voice, he had checked and it wasn't Annabeth talking to him but he was still trying to please her. It was all so real.

" _You do know that we just let you drop, right?" It was his cousin now, the little brother. Nico's voice was colder than usual. "We didn't want to lose Annabeth but we didn't want to help you, it was always your fault that Bianca died and now you will die in these pits for it."_

" _I'm going to come down there and get Annabeth back once your dead though," It was Jason this time, "She would fit well with Reyna and Piper, all three of them could just please me and we will have so much fun together."_

"I'm just glad that I have the better Poseidon powers," Frank taunted, "You are so unoriginal. And now you will die with all that pompousness that we hate."

"I wished that you had drown in Alaska, you know." Hazel sneered

" _You killed so many people, and it is your fault that bad things happened to us. Too busy with a relationship with a girl that doesn't love you. I can tell she hates you just as much as the rest of us." Piper's words hurt._

 _But then the worst came, "If it wasn't for you I would have been happy, a great writer and in love with someone with a way to take care of me. But then you came along so I had to get with Smelly Gabe. I should have let him keep beating you, he should have killed you." His mother's voice, he hadn't heard it since before Rome, over a year ago._

" _You aren't worthy to be my son, I have more out there you know, your mother wasn't my only little affair and I have more children who will actually do things for me and won't give up honoring my name for a little bitch daughter of Athena." His father._

" _NO!" It was a cry, his face a mix of sweat, dirt and tears and his lungs burned from exhaustion._

" _The greatest hero, my grandson and bane of me." It was a cold voice, the first voice Percy ever heard coming from Tartarus and one he heard coming from the mouth of the hero of Olympus back in the titan war. "Oh how the mighty fall." His sarcasm was even crueler than he normally sounded, a grating of stone on stone._

" _Kronos." Percy growled clutching his sword so tight that all of his knuckled glowed white._

" _You can't fight me here Jackson." Kronos mocked, "We can't die here, and you can. There are many that wish to get to you now, and I am the only one that is holding them back from grabbing that little girly and ripping her to pieces. Well after she pleasures all of Tartarus that is." His smirk was engraved into his face._

" _What do you want?" Percy snarled, leaning forward as a big cat in the hunt, ready to pounce._

" _Well you are smarter than we believed, you can tell when I want something." Kronos' smirk got even larger, "I want to make a deal."_

…(Time Break)

 _It was simple, Percy gave up his body for their amusement and they let Annabeth free of all harm. And they would even show them to the doors of Death when they were finished, all Percy had to do was give up, something he was going to do for Annabeth._

 _The claws dug into his naked flesh, nothing could stop this as so many marks were ripped and cut into his flesh and the deepest, well he couldn't die so they had to seal them up. But did they have to cauterize them with a few drops of Stygian water._

 _The water from the Styx when dropped onto his skin burnt into it more but it did stop the bleeding, only intensifying the pain and insuring that the mark would never go away._

" _Always the hero, aren't you Jackson?" Kronos sneered as the last of the monsters had their way with him. "Well now I have a special prize for you, as you have noticed, no powers work here in the pit besides the powers made in the pit, and that includes your breathing under water. And a little birdie told me that you have a fear of drowning. Why don't we test that." Kronos started to laugh and that laugh was something that still caused fear to run through Percy, the hardened warrior was afraid, he always would be._

 _Percy couldn't stand, couldn't breath. It all hurt, his lungs were full of water and his blood, the marks that adorned his body were deep and throbbing and his entire mind was crashing around him._

 _Then he saw Annabeth again and the only thing he could think of was how disappointed she would be in him, he was broken and she was always so strong. He wasn't good enough for her but he did have to get her out of here and that is what he was going to do._

" _Well here is your little whore Jackson, maybe you will come back when she gets a look at you, it is a hideous sight if I do say so myself, it is only my good looks that went through your father and into you that keep you looking even remotely human. You are nothing more that the monsters that made you this way and I love it." Kronos was in Percy's face, the molten gold on a dead sea green. "Oh and a parting gift."_

_With that Kronos stepped back and pulled out his scythe, the giver of some of Percy's deepest tortures. And with two downward strikes the blade went clean through Percy's feet, cauterized from the stygian water that had laced the blade to make it burn more. "Now the doors are just a few miles in that direction." Kronos said pointing over a rocky field of obsidian shards, "No one will bother you until you get on the other side."_

 _And so Percy resumed what he was doing not 6 days ago; Annabeth draped over one shoulder still in an unconscious state as Percy trudged through the glass like rock on his broken feet, no true strength ran through him anymore. He would give up again if it weren't for Annabeth; no she was the reason that he was here on the world._

The light of the doors of Death consumed him illuminating him as he opened his eyes expecting some form of judgment only to see a ceiling fan spinning above him. That was strange; DOA records didn't have a fan the last time Percy checked. Looking to his left Percy found a blue wall, blue like the sky; that also didn't match DOA records. Turning his head again Percy saw a clock, it was about 3:58 and the clock itself was a detached wheel from a ship. Just before Percy could look around the room and focus on more of it he heard a stomping through the door, it sounded big and dense creating a large sound, but it was slow.

Percy would have done something but he was too tired to get up. And he was okay if he was going to die, better now than never that is.

The thumping got closer and Percy began to hear what it was, two softer but different steps followed by a harder step that sounded quite a bit heavier. The doorknob turned.

Percy just looked up at the ceiling fan, if anything maybe when he died he could just watch a fan for the rest of his souls existence until his soul fade or he takes a dip in the Phlegethon and burn away the rest of his pitiful happenstance. But the fan would be just fine to watch, nothing bad ever happens to a ceiling fan, just goes on and off and on and off. But then again, it could just be Percy's ADHD acting up again.

"You're up already, need to get some food in ya son." The voice was strange, not monster like, just a gravely and old voice that seemed kind and … sympathetic.

Percy turned his head to see a man who looked to be in his late 80's with very little gray hair left. He wore a green army jacket over his plaid shirt while he leaned heavily on a wooden cane.

"Well you gonna say something son?" He looked down at Percy, he had old red-mud color eyes that reminded Percy of someone but he couldn't place it.

In response Percy only shook his head. He hadn't spoken a word in so long that he didn't know if he could.

"Hmm, maybe you should just have some water and food then, looks like you haven't had a good meal in ages." The old man saw the flinch at the word water, and he started to try and piece together the young man in front of him. "Well here eat this, the wife made you some food," he said setting down a tray he was carrying, on it was a sandwich, a bowl of soup and some vegetables along with a glass of water that made Percy flinch again.

Percy did reach out to eat it but he didn't act like there was someone watching him. It was so strange to interact with someone without them trying to beat him. Why was it so strange for someone to try to be nice?

It had been so long for Percy since someone actually talked to him; he has been avoiding people for so long that it was strange for anything that included other people.

"A real talkative one aren't ya?" sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed next to him, "Got any family out there son?"

Percy again shook his head; he didn't have a family that would accept him. How could a family of the sea be related to an aquaphobiac monster?

"Well where do you live young man? You look like you have been through hell. So you live on the streets?" The old man shot an incredulous look when he snorted at the mention of hell, but it wasn't in humor, he looked haunted but the snort was in the irony of his accuracy. But Percy didn't respond, he just lifted the tray from his lap and set it on the table away from him, looking warily at the liquids left on the tray.

The old man noticed that the soup and water were untouched while the veggies and sandwich were gone to the last crumb. "Well I am sure that Su would like to know that you liked the food, sure you don't want to soup?" Percy nodded his head quickly, "And you should drink the water, don't want you to get dehydrated now do we?" The man lifted the glass up and offered it to Percy but he just backed away, deathly afraid of the clear liquid. The man frowned, he had only seen this once before and it wasn't pretty.

"Well if you feel like talking the name's Clark, and I would like to know yours." Clark stood away from him, picking up the tray and walked out the door, Percy just lay back in the bed and stared at the rotating ceiling fan.

"Thalia, it's good to see you again." Lacy hugged the raven-haired huntress. The smiles were slightly strained, as both knew that the reason of the reunion was less than happy.

"Lacy, Jedidiah. So why you two? I expected the brain and wrench to be on top of this one." Thalia and Annabeth's relationship was sadly straining after the war, the hunters still don't go to camp all that often, too busy hunting the monsters that stirred in the war. She was the lieutenant that the hunt needed after the war and losing so many sisters, everything was darker after the war but the leaders had to be strong to lead them all back from the dark.

"Thalia there is a prophecy for finding Percy." Lacy explained, Jedidiah knew that hunters were not fond of boys so he was trying not to get the attention of the girl in front of him and kept his mouth shut. Lacy went through the prophecies with Thalia, explaining what they had learned from Ares and the campers.

"So you both came because of this prophecy? It does say that we will come back without him though, it doesn't make sense though, are we going to find someone else instead? And what about you Jedidiah? It pretty much says that you are going to die." Thalia was not in a good mood, she had been one of the first searchers for Percy, looking where she had though possible for the first 2 years of his absence before she realized the hunt needed her more, she had given up hope and now she didn't know if she should actually be hopeful or sorrowful.

"I find that I can get lucky enough to avoid death long enough." Jedidiah smirked before he leaned down and picked up a penny at his foot before flicking it in the air and catching it.

"Yeah whatever. Just another boy to die if you are that arrogant." Thalia mumbled before walking away.

Lacy looked at Jedidiah before shaking her head, "Try and dial down the smirk there, Thumper." Walking towards the van that they took from camp.

Jedidiah reached down to his belt and rubbed his rabbit foot, "What I am the son of the goddess of luck, I should be lucky, " he muttered to himself.

…

The quest wasn't going to be easy on Thalia; she had lost a lot in this war. She saw her brother lose his girlfriend and another girl that meant a lot to him. She lost 18 of her sisters, some of them even younger than her. She watched as her brother ripped the head off of a very skinny boy, something that made the man-hating hunter worried for her brother and his grip on his humanity. And her cousin/little brother Nico sacrificed himself for all of them, the one boy that she connected with besides her little brother and Percy. Then Sally, the mother figure in her life before and even sometimes after her joining the hunters was slain in front of her.

But the worst was losing the one person that held so much hope in her, the most put together person after the war. Even if it was all faked Percy was so steady and provided a rock for all of them to cling to as the world slowly stopped shaking, it was him that made them all whole again.

Looking back on it Thalia would think it was obvious that he was hiding everything. The fact that he didn't react to the war like everyone else when he lost so much, probably more than anyone else, and yet he was the calmest and the most helpful. She felt stupid for not seeing it in time, because before anyone could ask him if he was okay, he was gone for good.

"So has Artemis reported where she has seen a trace of Percy yet?" Lacy asked the troubled hunters.

"No, I believe if she had found a trace of him she would have found him by now. She is the greatest huntress after all."

Lacy scrunched up her face, "But the prophecy says that 'the huntress watches the trail', that means that Artemis should have found some trace of him, my guess was that she couldn't get to him or something."

Jedidiah spoke up now, "Well it doesn't have to be Lady Artemis does it? I mean Thalia could be the huntress right? She is the huntress on the quest so maybe you do know where we are going Thalia, just you don't know it yet or don't realize it."

"I think if I knew where Percy was that I would remember it!" Thalia exclaimed, "Just stop talking, we are starting in Montauk, that was Percy's favorite place, maybe he left something there for us to follow."

The rest of the van ride to Montauk was silent, it wasn't a terrible drive from Camp Olympus, located in Northern Virginia to New York, but this close to the old Camp Half-Blood was always emotional for those that had been there when it stood as a beacon to all demigods as a safe haven.

New Rome was no more, it along with Camp Jupiter were taken by Earthborns while the legion was away, overpowered the retirees fled to every corner of the country but were found and offered new lodging in New Olympus, a city three times the size of New Rome, all for the improvement of the life of demigods.

Camp Half-Blood was deserted when it wasn't big enough to support the new accommodations needed for an expanding camp, deciding to move to a more neutral location, allowing both Rome and Greece the opportunity to find a new home.

"We're here." Thalia said as she stopped the van on a sandy road looking down on the New York coastline.

The three of them made their way to the old but sturdy cabin, a strong beach cabin that held the blessing of Poseidon to never be brought down by the sea. As they approached Thalia started to see a figure on the steps that led up to the door of the cabin. A figure with windblown hair and tanned skin that glowed in the setting sun sat slumped on the steps, his head in his hands looking old and tired his hair a graying shade of black.

As they approached and still couldn't see the figures face hopes rose, maybe it wouldn't be that hard.

Thalia started to call out to him, "Perrr…" but her voice died when she got closer, there were no scars on this person, not like the Percy that was burned into Thalia's head now, the one that looked as if he was the victim of the hunters' wrath and had been for millennia. No this one had perfect skin and his identity was known when he turned to look at the person who called out.

Thalia and her two companions dropped into bows, "Lord Poseidon, we are sorry to disturb you."

Poseidon's eyes were almost hollow, he had been crying to but he had a small smile on his face when he saw his niece, the one that was a friend of his son. "Not at all Thalia, you are perfectly fine, join me for the sunset would you. It is so beautiful here when it reflects off my seas."

"Thank you, Lord Poseidon." Thalia walked and sat with him on the top step, Jedidiah and Lacy were a few steps down, all looking out at the sunset in somber. It was beautiful but the sea god's emotions were contagious.

"You know I used to come and watch the sunset here after the council meetings, it was close bye and I liked to see a new place. It was here that I met Sally, as you know Thalia. It was in November, I think she was here for Thanksgiving holiday or something like that. We swam together, laughed and had are first kiss in this sunset, and then slept under the stars. They were so clear that night, she pointed out all of her favorite constellations. It was then that I fell in love with her, the enthusiasm she showed over the smallest and biggest things. She was a queen amongst girls and that was why I offered her a palace of her own." Poseidon sighed and brought his head down as the sun finally dropped fully beneath the horizon.

Thalia didn't know what to do at this point, she had never had to help a grieving god, Artemis had grieved but she was a twelve year old sister who was easy to hug, not a 40 something looking uncle who her father hated at times.

"Percy and I came here after the war one night, he was helping me fill the void left because I lost so much. My city was destroyed and my wife was gone. My son is still here and Percy reminded me of that. He told me about how Triton would always be there for me and that my city could always be rebuilt, again. And then there was the fact that he reminded me of his mother so much. He was smart just like her, knew what to say and when to say it when it truly counted. When the stars came out he pointed to his favorite constellations just like his mother. Like his friend, Zoë up there hunting the skies. He says she was a great friend and missed her along with all his other lost friends. Just so many people lost in these wars, so many..."

Thalia just nodded with him, she had missed Zoë. They weren't friends for long but that girl was a hero and deserved her place amongst the stars. But then she thought of something and her head shot straight up to the sky.

"Zoë?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Originally by CourtingTheMoon**

Ch. 4

 **Looking up**

"Zoë?" Thalia's head was looking up at the darkening sky, but there were a few stars that seemed to be brighter than the others, unreasonably bright. The stars of the huntress stood up from deep blue sky. All the hunters were trained to use the stars as navigation but Thalia knew there was something wrong with this.

Jedidiah and Lacy both look up at Thalia from their seats below her, "Zoë Nightshade?" Jedidiah questioned. All of the campers know the story of the daughter of Atlas who fought her father for Artemis. It was surprising though for Thalia to be asking about her now.

"Yeah look at her constellation," the two demigods looked with her up at the bright stars, "they are in the wrong place."

"What are you talking about? They look the same as usual."

"Open your eyes, boy. She is supposed to be facing east chasing the lion, but now she is facing west, and her arrow is too bright." Thalia pointed.

Lacy gasped, "She is pointing us in the right way!" Thalia nodded along with Jedidiah. "So we go west, how are we getting there?"

"I can help you." All three demigods jumped, they had forgotten that the god of the seas was sitting there with them, and he gave a low whistle.

Down from the sky came three pegasi, flying towards the seated demigods. Once landed the pegasi bowed to lord Poseidon.

 _My lord you summoned us?_ The leading pegasus asked, a beautiful pure white stallion with a blue tint in his wings.

"Yes, Maximus; you, Rosaline and Tiberius are needed to take these three to find my son, the rider of Blackjack." Poseidon spoke to the winged horses.

 _A great honor sire, we will not disappoint the friend and rider my father._ Maximus replied again bowing deep, followed by his two companions.

"Thank you my friends, I will see you soon," he said to the pegasi before turning back to the demigods, "these three will take you west, but you won't be able to make it in one day, I hope you find my son soon, I don't want to lose my sister as well as my son. Good luck and may the fates guide you through." And with that Poseidon disappeared into a mist.

Thalia approached the white pegasus gingerly, "You're Maximus, son of Blackjack, right?"

The horse bobbed his head in a nod to her question.

"Dibs on Rosy!" Lacy called, running over and climbing on top of her favorite pegasus from camp.

As Lacy climbed on the tan equine and Thalia hesitantly approached the white stallion son of the legendary Blackjack; Jedidiah bowed to and climbed on the last pegasus, the chocolate colored Tiberius, the largest one there.

The three quest mates all mounted their rides before taking off as quickly as possible, taking to the skies in the west.

It was still spinning, Percy had been staring at the ceiling fan for hours now, possibly days if he had lost track of time like usual. It was odd for a demigod to be so still but one so broken like Percy was able to be still for days on time as long as the pain and fear couldn't get to him.

But Percy really did spend all his time blindly staring at the fan, it was constant, something he hadn't had in a long time.

While Percy lay in the bed he was a little troubled by the old man that he had met. He reminded him of someone he met a long time ago. But he couldn't place it.

The old man had dark muddy colored eyes, like clay or brick. His hair was close cropped and long ago grayed. He also had a hardness to him that was just so familiar to Percy.

Knocking from the door broke Percy out of his reverie. After a minute of him not responding the door opened to an older and short woman of obvious oriental descent.

"Good morning, young one," she walked into the room with the same tray as yesterdays meal, only this time it was supporting fruits and rice in a bowl with what looked like egg and meat. "I hope your hungry. Clark just went out to the store to get some yard care supplies, but he will be back soon. My name is Su, what is your name?"

Percy looked up at her from the bed, his eyes not showing anything but he felt a little regret. She seemed so nice and the kind of lady that was easy to talk to but Percy couldn't speak to her, everyone that gets close to him dies. It is always his fault that they die too. He couldn't cause this lady's death; he should get out of there.

As quickly as he could Percy threw himself out of the bed intent on making for the one window in the room and leaping out of it and out of this couples life. But as soon as his feet hit the floor he fell and couldn't get back up.

He was weak, not like the weak he was before, that was emotional, mental and spiritually destroyed, no this was worse. He couldn't run anymore, he always used to be able to run away from the fears and the fates coming after him but now he will have to stay and watched as his world continues to crumble.

"Dear are you alright?" Su had set the tray down and was kneeling next to him. Percy just shook his head in the negative. He had never been 'alright'. And that wouldn't start now. "Come along, let's get you back in bed." So the two of them lifted Percy back onto the bed where he was propped up by some pillows.

"Why did you try to jump up so quickly, dear?" her voice was very caring and sympathetic. It had a sweetness to it that Percy felt haunted by, it was like his mother all those years ago when she would come home from the candy store and give him the one relief he had in between the beatings he had everyday.

Percy didn't respond to her, choosing instead to stare out the window that he tried to exit out of. Outside was a tall oak tree in the middle of a large backyard. Several flowered bushes and other shrubbery accompanied it. Behind the bushes Percy could make out a rock garden of sorts, the rocks were stacked in meticulous and yet bizarre shapes and set in a smaller pebble pit that mimicked a pond in its placing.

"Come dear, you can trust me. What are you afraid of?" Su asked.

Percy didn't respond to her as when she asked the question all the fears he had began to flood his mind. He started to shake as it became too much, just like when the dreams were happening.

Su didn't know what to do so in an attempt to comfort the young man she wrapped her arms around his chest. This would work on most people, a very comforting gesture for sure but not Percy. This only reminded him of the pain that touches caused, it inflamed all the wounds that haunted his body and he thrashed.

"Calm down shh, shh, it's alright." Su tried to comfort him more but as she tried to hold tighter he became more violent shaking with new strength.

It was the first time in years that anything like this had happened, his powers emerging from the depths of his despair.

It was lucky for Su that Clark was coming home that very moment because the house began to shake with the quaking son of Poseidon, a great rumbling that reminded him of a time in his childhood with his friend Shen Lun. He recognized the signs of a caused earthquake; the house shaking stronger then the rest and the way the gravel on the road was going away from the house.

Clark ran as fast as he could to the house, he had known there was something familiar about the boy. His aura was similar to something he saw back when he was 9 when his friend was attacked by Clark's brothers and their friend.

Now running into the house all he worried about was his dear Su, she was in the house and he had seen what had happened nearly 80 years ago. So he ran as fast as he could to make sure his wife was safe.

When he burst through the doors of the guest room that the man was staying in to find his loving wife trying to calm the quaking boy who was now glowing green.

"Su leave now, I will handle him." His wife looked at him in defiance for a second before she followed his orders, trusting him as she had for their over 50 years together.

Clark came forward and gently turned the boy towards him to look him straight in the eye before he saw the pain in them again, just like with the water.

"Please son, reign in the sea. You must control yourself. You are not only the sea but also the trusty rock that withstands it." the shaking withstood as Clark tried to get through to Percy, "You're safe son, your safe. Have hope."

That word came through, just that word. It was said so many times by the voices in his head, the sisters telling him that he needed to find his, Clark, the old man telling him to have some but the strangest was the voice of a woman that he heard before one that he recognized and couldn't place, 'Hope, Percy Hope'. It was the word that haunted him, but not in a bad way. He felt something that he didn't know anymore when he heard that word, he didn't know what he felt but it wasn't pain.

The shaking slowed as the glow around Percy dimmed. "Come on son. You are stronger than what ever is hurting you."

All the shaking stopped now, along with the glow but Percy was now shaking his head. If he talked he would be saying no; if he could he would say that his pain and fear would never end and that he would forever be dead.

Then the darkness collapsed around Percy, his eyes closed and his mind slowing. Clark looked down on the man and for once saw a little bit of peace on his face.

"Are you sure we can't go any farther?" Thalia asked as she leaned against the side of Maximus.

Maximus gave an indignant shake of his white mane and stretched his illustrious wings while Lacy responded, "No, the pegasus need rest just like anyone else, it's not like flying us all the way across country is easy. We can set out again tomorrow when they rested but now we are stuck in Boise waiting for morning."

"There are worse places to stop, but where is Zoë leading us?" Jedidiah queried.

Thalia looked up at the sky again, "Well her arrow is still shining bright and she is pointing west, so we keep going."

"But where could he be hiding, the prophecy says that he is afraid of water so do you really think he crossed the Atlantic and is in Asia or is he somewhere in the wilderness like Bigfoot or something?" Jedidiah was starting to doubt this way of travel, "I mean how can we know that Zoë is actually able to see us and Percy. Can't it be Artemis who found part of his trail and she is following him now, we could be wrong."

Lacy jumped up right next to him, "We can't be wrong," Lacy defended before rubbing Jedidiah's head despite him being taller than her, "We have our lucky rabbit right here."

"Knock it off!" Jedidiah cried indignantly.

"She's right you know," Thalia called, "With you by our side we will just get lucky and stumble on Percy now."

"Maybe we should keep going though, I mean if we go on foot then the pegasi can still rest their wings while we can still make distance. We don't actually have that much time." Jedidiah argued.

Lacy and Thalia shared a look before Thalia shrugged, "Maybe you're right, we are all rested and we should get going."

The questmates packed the few things they had taken off their mounts before climbing on again and taking off in a canter following the stars before the sun would rise.

The sun came up just as the three were crossing into Oregon; Lacy was asleep on Rosaline's back as Jedidiah rode ahead and Thalia rode next to her to keep her on her horse.

"Why can't Percy just send up a flare or something?" Jedidiah complained; he never was one for horse back riding.

"Shut it Jed. I have a good feeling coming on about this." Thalia remarked.

"Fine, let's just keep it going." He conceded.

The trip continued silent as the three spent their time resting and contemplating the greatest hero's hiding place.

"Is it just me or is it a little stupid that a aquaphobiac would hide in one of the wettest states?" Lacy questioned.

"Well he is a kelp head, no way he would think about it," was Thalia's reply.

Jedidiah got a thinking face on, "What if he is hiding from us?"

"Well of course he is hiding from us, or he would have come home in the last 7 years." Thalia remarked.

"No, hear me out," he started, "What if he knows that we are looking for him. We are going to a place that Lord Ares said that Lady Athena ruled out. I mean maybe he is trying to make it so we can't find him. What if we do find him but he doesn't want to come with us. It fits the prophecy of him not coming back."

Thalia was silent for a minute, a look of betrayal flashing across her face. "If he doesn't want to then I'll knock him out and we will carry him back."

Jedidiah looked over at Lacy to see her look of concern directed at Thalia. There was no one in camp that didn't know the relationship of Thalia and Percy, and it was obvious that Thalia missed him a lot. Despite her position as the lieutenant of the hunt it was a strong cousin bond that was broken when Percy disappeared those years ago.

Maybe it wouldn't be long before a family reunion, or at least that is what everyone hoped for.

"Is he alright Clark? I've never seen anything like that happening before. He was creating an earthquake. Tell me now." Su ranted at her husband.

Clark sighed as he exited the room that the young man had just passed out in. "Honey, you remember my friend Shen all those years ago. I told you about the accidents that happened because of his lineage, this is the same. I don't know how but this boy is a descendant of Neptune and he is suffering with it. It would explain the earthquake that he caused but it still can't explain why he is so fearful. What did he tell you that made him so startled?"

Su looked pensive at first trying to think back on all that has happened "He was acting so fearful. He never even said anything, I think he tried to run away and then he fell down when his legs wouldn't hold him up. And he hasn't spoken a single word since I've seen him." Su was worried for the young man; he was just that too, young.

The couple then went silent as they continued to ponder their new live-in guest. They had both seen many scars on the boy felt even more when they were trying to comfort him. The marks on his body seemed beyond possible for one at his age even if he had been in a war. Then his face, covered in dirt and a beard more commonly seen on the mythical Sasquatch. This boy could only been known as an enigma or an impossibility. Clark and his brothers always thought that they would look like he did now when they were his age, war-torn and rugged.

"What do you think he could have seen to make him so afraid of everything?" Su asked her husband.

Clark sighed and rubbed his brow, "Honey I have seen many terrible things, including my brother ordered to death by my mother but this boy has seen worse. The way he acts and the fear that is ever present in his eyes I can't imagine what he has been through. My best guess would be that he was tortured in the depths of hell and that can't be all," little did the man know how close he was to the truth on this.

It was the next day that Percy was able to open his eyes again, but even then he was just too exhausted to move. It would be another full day before he would be able to lift his self from the bed to any degree; his body was just so exhausted.

Why did Percy have to be like this, so weak? He was born with the destiny that saved Olympus and yet he was so weak that he lost everything he ever cared about. He would never be able to look at himself or anyone else the same ever again. And now he was stuck with a nice couple that either thought he was a mutant or crazy and would be calling the police or, with his luck, actually knows what he is and they will or already have alerted Olympus or one of the camps and he will be killed within the day. But that wouldn't be too bad, and then he could finally be done.

"So what do you think Thals? Mountains, city or the forests?" Lacy asked the hunter as all three of the pegasi had finished a short flight over the high desserts of eastern Oregon. The quest were at a cross road because Zoë's arrow had dimmed so they could only assume that they were close but now they had to decide where Percy had hidden and Oregon was very diverse in landscapes to hide in.

"Well I don't know why don't we pick a method to search them all." The huntress was trying to think of all the places that she thought that Percy would hide and honestly she had no idea. Percy did have a history in Portland, he had bet with his life downtown there but it was a large city and she wouldn't know where to start there.

It was then that Jed spoke up from the back, "We could try a flushing method, start from the top and then work our way down. If we fly to the top of Mt. Hood then we can work our way down and then there is a better chance if we work our way all the way down the mountain. It will also cut down on time if we can just keep going south from there and we don't find him then we rule out area quicker."

Thalia thought for a while, "That could work for us, we start at the top of the mountain and spiral down to cover it all."

"Okay let's take off and we'll reach the peak in a half hour tops." Lacy put out before clicking her tongue and giving a swift kick she and Rosaline took off into the sky.

Her quest mates both followed shortly as all three soared towards the snowy peak. The cold and frigid air was eating at their exposed skin as they ascended.

As the three landed on the sloped of Mt. Hood they realized a problem; the weather was fighting them. The winds had picked up and the clouds were thick. Visibility was down to zero so it wasn't surprising when the wind picked up and when stumbling Lacy reached the edge of an embankment resulting in a quick tumble. But as she felt her body fall below her a hand reached out and grabbed her before she plummeted and Jedidiah pulled her back up.

"Watch it pretty girl, don't want to fall now do we?" he teased.

Lacy bristled at the nickname, "What ever Jed," she pulled her hand away and walked over to the pegasi as they seemed uncomfortable in the colder and windy environment. "The pegasi can't stay here as we scale down the mountain. The snow isn't good for their wings so they should go off on their own. Maximus will be able to find us if he is called, I would suggest a cab whistle because that is what Blackjack taught him. And if they can they will try to find Percy too, the mist can hide them well enough," Lacy then turned her head to the equestrians, "Good luck guys."

The pegasi all nodded to them before soaring off into the low clouds.

"This is probably the end of the season storm, so we should be fine with the skiers and hikers, no one usually comes up for any of this." Jedidiah remarked.

"How do you know that? Last I checked, Jed, you are from Florida." Lacy shot back.

"Well I was born there, but I was picked up in Cali and while hitching across country I hit some great powder in the Sierra Nevada's so I know a thing or two," his natural confidence shining bright as he struck a pose on the edge, trying to show an air of dramatics.

"Yeah says the bo—" Thalia was cut off by a cry in the air. But this wasn't a cry of pain or a battle cry.

"Wahooo!" It sounded like a girl, obviously having the time of her life, that is until, "Watch out! Look up man!" And then it hit Jed.

Literally, she hit in the chest full on with the bottom of her board as the parachute that she held onto kept going with no care for the new added weight.

It wasn't until they were under the clouds was the girl able to reign in the chute; pulling it down under the gusts and flurries.

"What is wrong with you!?" Jedidiah was bewildered, this girl had just run him over and now she was yelling at him. And was she paraboarding? And he couldn't even speak, as he wheezed trying to gain some air in his lungs.

"That was awesome! Way to go girl!" That was a voice that simply made Jedidiah groan. Seriously, he just got run over and Thalia was congratulating the girl and everything. Wait ten seconds and she would ask her to join the hunt.

"Thanks I usually land a little smoother than that but the powder ain't here," the girl said folding up her parachute and stuffing it in her backpack. "What were you three doing on the mountain anyway? Not a good time for a hike."

Lacy smiled, "We're looking for someone on the mountain. Have you seen anyone?"

The girl got a puzzled look under her helmet and goggles, "Well there isn't anyone on the mountain besides us since they closed it and no one actually lives like a mountain man up here so unless you jut lost him then he ain't here."

"Oh," Lacy's face dropped a little.

"So who are you three anyway? Tourist from the east by the accent."

Thalia smiled, "Well I'm Thalia, this is Lacy and your snow bunny there is Jed."

"Ha, I like you already Thals," the girl laughed unclipping her helmet and pulling it off. Jedidiah was gob smacked. The girl was beautiful, Japanese American traits with long straight black hair and deep coal black eyes that danced with mischief. "Ellen Wynn. Hell seeker extraordinaire!"


	5. Chapter 5

**By CourtingTheMoon**

Ch. 5

Falling Down

Percy was sitting in the bed, two pillows under his back as he was propped up with Su Brodi sitting next to him in a chair. They had been silent for what must have been 30 minutes now, Su wanted to see if he would initiate contact or conversation in any form. But she wouldn't be in luck there, the man in front of her has spent nearly a forth of his life mute and wouldn't be able to change now.

Sighing Su decided it was enough of being silent. "So do you have a name, hero?" Su asked then noticing Percy flinch and shoot her a look.

He thought that she was mistaking him for someone else or just didn't know because he wasn't a hero. No a monster like him was hunted and killed by heroes. Ti was kind of ironic to him but he wasn't laughing.

Su took this as surprise and worry from the boy even though it wasn't. "Don't worry, I know what you are but I'm not one of those mean monsters." Su smiled brightly at him, "Clark is a legacy from your camp Jupiter, so I have known about your world for years. I even killed one of those monsters when we were honeymooning. But you can tell me you know, Clark says that you are a descendent or son of Neptune. Are you?" she tilted her head in the way a cat or small child would, Percy was astonished by the innocence a woman that would most likely be 80 could have.

But Percy shook his head to her question, for multiple reasons really. He couldn't lie to this woman; it was probably a week since he first arrived, three or four days since his 'incident', and she had been taking care of him the entire time. But he wasn't a son of Neptune. An argument could be made that he was a son of Poseidon but Percy would deny that too, he wouldn't muddy the name of a great god like Poseidon with another monster as a son.

"Hmm, then maybe something else. But you obviously have strong powers over the earth when you could shake the house like that." Su seemed to pout as she tried to think of a reason why Percy could do that.

Percy was able to pay more attention to the woman now that he was better rested. It was obvious that Su was from Asia with the accent she still had, it wasn't strong so he could figure that she had gotten it under control years ago. She was thin and looked very frail for someone that seemed to walk around as much as her. He hair was short, maybe to her chin in length and a dark, dark brunette. And her eyes were a doe like brown made her a very cute and endearing old lady.

It was then that Clark came in, he was in a red flannel shirt today and while leaning on his cane carried a tray with a few sandwiches on it. When Su saw her husband she smiled and stood to grab the plates from him. "So Clark this young man was just telling me that he isn't a descendent of Neptune like you thought."

Clark hummed to himself before turning to Percy, "So you talking now?" Percy didn't answer him looking down in his lap now.

"Not yet," Su replied for him, "But he can nod if we get something right so he isn't deaf."

Clark rubbed his stubbly chin before snapping his fingers and turning to Percy again, "So kid I have to ask, you ever been to camp?" Percy nodded, "Ever get one of these?" this time Clark rolled up his shirts sleeve revealing a tattoo that was familiar to Percy, it was his SPQR tattoo with the helmet and crossed swords that symbolize the children and legacies of Mars, and below that was a series of scores that would impress anyone in the legion.

Again Percy nodded, he had received some tattoos like that, and at the time it was a slightly painful experience. Clark smiled before reaching for Percy's arm about to reveal the tattoo he felt would give him an identity for the mystery man in front of him. But as he pulled back the sleeve that hid the boy's arm he gasped and dropped the arm back to the bed.

Because no matter how painful the delivery of the tattoo was on Percy's arm the way on which it was removed was worse. In the place the tattoo used to rest was a scar, or series of scars. A burn first that must have taken all the flesh that the tattoo would have rested on and even worse was what looked to be carved into the skin a message if you would. And Clark could read it in perfect Latin because on his arm it said, 'weak'.

Percy could remember how he got some of his worst reminders, out of revenge by a titan that didn't enjoy being insulted. But none of them did.

" _Percy, Percy, Percy." Prometheus shook his head, "This was a foolish decision on your part, and I mean I wouldn't need forethought to tell that this would only result in pain for you."_

" _Fuck off Prometheus. Shouldn't you be sucking off some real titan right about now?" Percy was in his defiant phase, it wasn't a long time during the dealings, but it was the one that resulted in this situation._

 _Prometheus scowled, but he ignored the comments, "You know Percy I feel like I should remind you about this when it is all over, just my forethought thinking aloud really but I feel like it is a good idea. I mean you were promised to be allowed out eventually so I think I will take something from you physically now, something that you will lose mentally later." Prometheus was becoming as dramatic as the rest as he paused to continue, "Your identity."_

And to start Percy had lava carried in by two telekhines poured over the arm with his tattoo.

" _What do all those romans want again, oh that's right. All of them want strength, admirable at times but completely irrelevant. What they hate is weakness, maybe I will put a reminder of you being just that, right here."_

 _As he talked the lava had done its job and had burnt the flesh from Percy's skin leaving only char that used to be muscle. Taking a rather jagged knife the titan began to write into Percy's arm cutting in his message._

 _Percy did scream about this, it caused more pain than the time in Mt. St. Helens and Percy doubted that he would ever get out of this. Tears rolled out of his eyes, and Percy was showing the weakness that Prometheus wanted to see._

 _It was a lot of pain later when Prometheus stepped back from Percy's arm, "A masterpiece if I do say so myself." Prometheus then looked behind Percy and waved over something. It was then that the same two telekhines from before were carrying a new bucket this time filled with water. But when Prometheus took the ladle and instead of drinking it began to pour the water over Percy's new scars that Percy knew that it was indeed Stygian water. The water burned worse than the lava had but then it stopped burning and only throbbed. Percy looked at his arm where the skin had healed slightly in the burning sensation but the words were very much visible and forever a reminder that he was indeed weak._

 _But Prometheus didn't stop there, "But Percy we aren't done yet, you have your roman strength gone now but you still have this hope and family of the Greeks and we can't have that, hero."_

 _And with his knife Prometheus quickly slashed against Percy's collar. At first Percy would believe that Prometheus was going to cut open his neck but then he heard beads clatter to the floor. Looking down he saw his necklace, the one that all Greeks had the one with so many memories. Prometheus just shoved it away with his foot, as if it were nothing of importance before approaching Percy again. This time with a new metal bucket that had green smoke rising from it._

" _Oh, Percy a new gift for you really. When my brother was out of his burden and could go down and play with his pet he collected this for me. I believe a friend of yours is very familiar with it." And then Percy remembered the acidic scent coming from the bucket, a poison that claimed his friend, Zoë Nightshade. In the bucket was poison extracted from the hundred-headed dragon, Ladon. "Now I am not sure what to compare this too, this venom. It causes the body to fail with excruciating pain. But you can't die now, so the poison will only burn worse than anything you have ever experienced. I do hope you enjoy this new one."_

 _And with a new and malicious smile that was so dangerously close to Percy's face Prometheus began to carve into Percy's neck and collar, replacing his necklace with a new massage. And throughout many of cuts Prometheus pulled back to dip his knife back into the bucket adding more to the pain as Percy's neck began to pour out the little blood he had left._

" _Almost done Percy I feel like this new one will be your favorite, a collar when you come back to be our pet." Prometheus finished with a flourish of his knife. And then the pain exploded again from his neck as more Stygian water was dumped onto Percy's neck cauterizing and finalizing the wound._

"Tell me Percy, what do you think?" Prometheus asked as he helped up a mirror. In the mirror Percy could see his red and agitated skin spread from his neck all the way down to his chest, the veins all visible with a green poison that seeped in. But the words were visible in the red skin, 'Failure' in ancient Greek.

" _I would say that I should go into artistry, don't you think Percy?"_

 _Percy was pulled out of the pain by his voice just the sound of the arrogance and victory in it was enraging. Percy looked up at him in a glare of defiance. But in that act Prometheus took the knife and with a large upwards slash cut from Percy's cheekbone to his forehead on his left side, blinding Percy in that side._

" _I always hated those eyes Percy, so emotional and defiant. They are you and I just took them away, no one will notice the color now. The scars you hold now will be what people see now, the weak failure you are not the hero they used to think." Prometheus walked to the door, "I leave before your next visitor comes, he is really anxious to see you Percy, I think he's a fan." And with that final message Prometheus closed the door with a loud crash leaving Percy with only the pain and the messages to steep in it all._

Clark Brodi was a hardened warrior, or at least he would like to think so. He was in the legion from the age 2 for decades and he saw many things 4 wars, countless battle and he could remember all 500+ people that have died to his hands in his 93 years of life. But no this boy, young man, child in front of him had seen worse and he knew it. Just looking at the man could tell you that. His face was riddled with scars; a slash with 4 lines went from his upper lip at an angle down his jaw, a claw mark with 3 claws seemed to cut from nose to ear, and a bite mark was on his neck. But then over his left eye there was a slash deeper than the rest, going nearly to the eyeball that was a darkened green orb. And his eyes themselves held a forever sadness that made Clark want to weep beyond anything he ever saw before.

As Percy revealed his scarred arm and relived how he had lost his strength he realized that he might as well be marked 'deserter' because of his total loss of roman values. He had to leave these people now; they couldn't aid a deserter. That was punishable by death.

So Percy again tried to run for the window that could lead to his freedom as the man in front of him learned the truth of his roman legacy. But as he reached a vertical position his legs began to buckle and after a single step he fell again to the floor, hard and fast.

This left Clark to only thing of how could a man a fourth of his age could be so broken?

Thalia was having a great time with this and that is what made Jedidiah the angriest, first some hot snowboard chick crashes into him and now she is sitting around the fire with Thalia and Lacy as if it were girl's night out. It confused him how they all could just sit around and talk at a time like this.

First off didn't they have a quest to complete and secondly it was fucking cold outside. The snow was flying, wind whistling and Jed was freezing because he was asked to 'stay out of this'. What did that even mean? Was Thalia really recruiting at a time like this?

And then there was the fact that Jed really would prefer if this girl didn't join the hunt, she was breathtakingly beautiful and he would like to at least try his luck and talk to her before she became one of those string happy hunters who found joy in putting a few arrows in Jed's ass every once in a while.

"Hey Jed!" It was Lacy that called out to him and waved him over. "Ellen said that we can stay at her place for the night before we look in Portland for Percy."

"That's just great. But how are we going to get down the mountain before nightfall then, we have like 2 hours."

Lacy looked at him incredulously, "You have a big hunk of metal on your back. Why don't you sled down?" before muttering to herself, "All luck, no brain."

When Lacy had tuned around Jedidiah had the proper response of a slap to his own forehead for not thinking of that. Obviously Thalia had her famous shield that could hold the two small-framed girls and Ellen had her board, so Jed pulled out his centurion style shield. That would be a fairly decent way of travel as long as he handled it right. As he pulled out the piece of metal from his pack that looked to be about the size as one of those apple tablets and hit his palm flat on the top it expanded to a near full body size with a slight curve to it.

"Wow, that was cool man, have another one of those nifty shields?" He heard Ellen ask him.

This shocked Jedidiah, this shield was made by some of the Hepheastus and Vulcan kids a while ago for him and whenever a mortal saw it they would mention a board of sorts, usually a surf board but obviously this girl was different, a clear sighted mortal, must be.

"Well... I uhm… well… no I don't have another one, kind of a special thing for my mountain decent." Jedidiah struggled with wording this to the pretty girl as she looked at it really closely.

The girl smirked at this, " How about I race you for it. Me on my board you on yours down the mountain. First one down gets the fancy shield. I don't know why you have it but it looks awesome and mama wants."

Jedidiah was stuck, first this was his shield and an important part of his supplies, but then again this girl had matched his two big weaknesses gambling and pretty girls. "Alright but I get something if I win."

"Oh, you'll get something all right pretty boy," the girls said giving Jed a saucy wink before hurtling herself off the mountain side her board on her feet and giving a cry of joy.

"Hey, don't cheat!" Jed called after her before running and jumping on his shield like the snowboards he used to ride and shooting off after the girl.

All of this though was being watched by his quest mates. Who were waiting back watching in amusement.

"So you think she is clear sighted or one of us?" Lacy asked as she heard the cries of the two competitors.

"Hard to say but I can tell you that she is going to get Jed killed and probably soon if he keeps acting like a boy." Thalia wasn't one of the die-hard men haters of the hunt but to all of the hunters _boy_ was one of the worst insults that could be given.

"Come on Thals, let's go before he kills himself to soon." And so the Thalia opened her shield and the two girls sat on it as they themselves shot down the mountain.

The streets of Olympus were quiet again but the throne room was busy and an ordered mess. A large circular table was set up in the room before the hearth and it was littered with maps and lists of locations.

Athena was dealing with the charts now, leaning over the table, her usually neat and tidy hair now fell down her shoulder free of her standard braid. Her eyes, the piercing gray now seemed tired. There weren't many on Olympus anymore, the gods and goddesses of Olympus were spread throughout the world searching for the lost hero. But there were a few lingering immortals still on Olympus. Currently there were several nymphs that were trained by Apollo in healing were tending to Hestia as best they could although no one knew what to do with her. Her body had been soaked in nectar, hopefully to restore some of her energy. And now she was resting in the flames of the hearth, hopefully her domain would bring back her vigor. But no change had occurred with the eldest goddess.

And then there was the god of the seas; he had spent quite a bit of time just sitting in his throne to distraught to move. Of the gods he was the one to lose the most in the war, because as he was in Greece fighting with his son, brothers and sisters, Oceanus attacked his palace. His wife, Amphitrite was struck down by Oceanus, leaving Poseidon's son Triton as all that stood to protect the people of Atlantis.

Poseidon was so lost after the war, he was more proud of his sons than he had ever been before but he had lost his queen, his kingdom and little did he know that he would lose one of his sons too. Currently his other son Triton was watching over Atlantis. After the war Triton had begun taking over more and more of the duties that Poseidon used to handle but now was too distraught to do so. Triton understood; he might not have liked the little whelp that much but Triton knew his role in his father's life. But all of this had left Poseidon in his current position, slouched in his throne on Olympus silent and very mopey.

Athena looked up from her work to take in the state of her work area, also known as the throne room. She was surprised to see Poseidon to still be sitting on his throne; he had been there for almost the entire time since the prophecy was announced. Honestly it was a little pathetic to see for her, but also there was that little bit of guilt on Athena's side because of her rivalry. Honestly she hated the oaf and had for millennia. But now he was so broken she started to question her hate for him. It had been so long since he had done anything wrong to her that she started to ponder her motives. Athena had been told many times that people change and she could believe it because she had seen that Valdez boy grow up into a proper man that could date her prized daughter Annabeth. But then that thought brought back the relationship of that sea spawn Jackson, that they were looking for now, and her daughter. It was against her better judgment but Athena had approved of he relationship. At one point in the relationship Athena was actually impressed by the boy; strong, loyal and willing to fight for his friends, although he was dimwitted. But was it possible that Poseidon could be getting better and maybe actually be like his son?

But then Athena looked to the hearth, it was where she looked to get that smile of reassurance and love from Hestia while her brothers laughed at her and her father demanded more. It wasn't enough that she had to be the smart one but as time went on the other gods just started to expect her to be the one to do the thinking. But her aunt Hestia was always supportive and there for all of them when they needed it. And now she needed them, so they had to pull through for her.

And back to Poseidon; it confused Athena a little about why he was stuck to his throne and not out looking for his own son. It didn't make sense really for him not to care enough. But Athena had never been one to look into others emotions it was… illogical. So Athena decided to try and get him off his lazy ass.

"Why are you still here Poseidon? You should be looking for Percy." Athena was never that sensitive of a woman and that showing in how she was approaching Poseidon now in her rather coarse way.

Poseidon looked up at her in confusion first before his face began to show his more recent form of defeat, "He isn't out there anymore, we gods couldn't find him with a prophecy and the demigods were told that he wouldn't come back. Maybe they'll find his body for me to send off properly or even a grave. Maybe he found peace in death." Poseidon looked down at the marbled floors, "I looked for 2 years straight for my son before I had to return to my duties. I realized a long time ago that my son was gone but I didn't want to accept it. Now I have lost my wife, my son and now my sister, all of them are never coming back."

Before Poseidon or even Athena could register what was about to happen or to utter another word a small and skilled hand came in firm and painful contact with Poseidon's face. Athena had slapped him leaving him with a deep golden handprint on his light tanned skin.

"How dare you give up on your son and Hestia!" she shrieked, "You are supposed to be compassionate and now you are just proving that you are the lazy and ignorant ass that I knew you were. I thought you could be better than this Poseidon." And without another word Athena turned away and returned to the table where she picked up a chart and flashed away. She couldn't tell where the words came from, be it from the hope she had of him being better, his disregard for the health of her aunt or just her usual hate of him she couldn't tell. But the emotion that Athena felt most prominent was disappointment.

Poseidon's hand rose to his stung cheek, it wasn't like Athena to act that way. She was the cool and collected one who always fought with her words and insults. But this was different, she was emotional and Poseidon actually felt like he had failed her in something. It may be the fact that he was just slapped and therefore had a subliminal need to do what the slapping woman had wanted but Poseidon, for some reason, wanted to go after her.

He shook off that train of thought but he couldn't forget what she said, especially about how he had given up, not something he was known for.

Poseidon looked up from the floor now at the hearth where lied his elder sister and closest of his siblings. He was ashamed that he had given up on her already, wallowing in his sorrows as she clung to her very existence like she clung to that pithos in her eight year old hands.

"Have I failed you Hestia? Am I a bad brother? You were always my favorite sister and now as you are fading I am decaying in on myself. I am sorry but I don't know where my son is. There isn't anything I can do about that." As Poseidon talked the body of Hestia began to lose even more of it's color. Her dress used to be the color of fresh embers and now looked like a darkening auburn mud. Her skin used to be a pleasant Greek tan and now was pale like a ghost.

The hope was dwindling, and Percy had to be found fast to save the goddess of the hearth.


	6. Chapter 6

**By CourtingTheMoon** Ch. 5

Home of the Soldier

The relations inside the house were strange, just hearing the conversations would make you think that the two people living there had gone insane and started talking to an imaginary friend. But it was because there was a third person there, only that person hadn't made a sound since arriving in the house. This was the Brodi residence in Northwest Portland, Oregon and Percy Jackson had been staying there for the last 2 and a half weeks. He has been eating even better than probably ever before because of the healthy diet that Su Brodi has him on and had regained his mobility enough to be able to walk on his own without using the extra cane he had been borrowing from Clark.

Percy had even gotten his haircut, well more like Su sheared him while bribing him with some steak. He looked near presentable with out the beard and hair of Sasquatch although his hair was still salt and pepper and his beard was the same although now it was trimmed down so he no longer looked like a man who lived on the streets for the last 7 years, although he had.

In all the years after the war Percy had never felt better physically, he could walk and breathe and sleep without the usual pain. But the mental pain was still there. Guilt was a top problem of his current mental state. It was eating at him because Su and Clark had taken him in like one of their own and encouraged him to talk and tell them what was wrong but Percy couldn't and yet on a few occasions felt the need to say something to them. It was killing him on the inside but that wasn't his only problem.

There were the voices coming back, they even recited a prophecy that the kept reciting to him about some hero that needs to save Hestia and Percy hoped that someone did because he wasn't the hero of the prophecy. No the prophecy called for a hero not a monster so obviously they are mistaken and there is a true hero that will make Hestia happy, which is a good thing she deserved a hero to love her.

The sisters told him to go outside so that the quest could find him, and he was going to but Su stopped him because she thought he would just end up on the street again so she had him under house arrest. Which was why he was stuck in the house now with his warden while her husband was out at the farmer's market getting dinner.

"Son, are you sure that you don't want to tell us anything?" He heard the nicest voice since his mother when he was 12. And again the guilt hit him; Clark and Su had begun to call him son because they didn't know a name and Percy was staying with them no matter what he wouldn't say.

Percy shook his head because he was trying to keep separate himself from them no matter how much they pried or tried to make him feel like family. But everyone close to Percy died painful deaths or lived even worse lives.

Su sighed, "You shouldn't keep it bottled up son, it's not good for you." She sat down heavily down on her reclining chair next to the couch that Percy was sitting on and she placed a glass of water in front of him, which he no longer flinched to but he wouldn't reach for it which is what Su had been working on with him since she learned that he wouldn't go towards it. She had started with some very small things like a damp rag and sponges before moving to small cups left around him to show him that it wasn't going to hurt him. It was tedious for Su but she cared for the young man.

"Clark should be home and then I can get dinner going but now is there anything that you would like to eat? You didn't have any lunch earlier."

Percy shook his head, he couldn't fight the kindness much longer it was killing him, and the pounding in his head was killing him.

"You know it was in the 40's that I met Clark, when he came to my town in China. He had swum from an imperial ship that had been sent to the mainland to get more resources and Clark stopped it when it was full of ammunition and fuel headed towards Japan. He did it all by himself too but he was a terrible swimmer and ended up in my town instead of his extraction zone some 100 miles up shore, and to top it all off he didn't speak a lick of Chinese, we laughed all day when he tried to play charades with us."

 _The darkness is still holding you hero; let it go. Free yourself of the pain and anguish. Now your destined love is fading it is your duty to save her._

Percy liked Su's stories and had been listening to her since he got here. She loved having someone to talk to and he had nothing better to do. But when the sisters spoke at the same time as her it only caused his head to hurt even more.

 _You know Thalia is on the quest and she is looking forward to seeing you, she is in Portland now, and Blackjack's son is here as well. These are your friends and they miss you. Lacy, the young girl from Aphrodite's cabin she is coming too. And a young man who looks up to you. You are missed hero._

"… and he pulled him out of the well by himself. I mean it may have inevitably been his fault because he was a big mess running around with half his body bandaged and all the girls were chasing him around. I was the one that nursed him and wrapped him up but all the girls just chased after him like he was some rock star. It was funny at times but really he was the cutest guy that I had seen and I may have gotten a little jealous, but don't tell Clark that. It always goes straight to his head."

 _They're coming._

Four teenagers piled out of an old fashion black jeep with a snowboard and surfboard sticking out of it. Another distinguishing identifier on the car was the layer of dirt on the bottom from driving on wet dirt roads. The teens that were climbing out included a girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, and was stunningly beautiful despite her hair being in a crude ponytail and the baggy rain jacket she was wearing. And following her was a handsome boy with blond close cropped hair and gold-flecked hazel eyes along with him was a beautiful Japanese-American girl with long straight black hair and a deep ebony eyes. Finally the driver climbed out of the car, she looked 16 despite her true age but the raven-haired teen was supposed to be much older, and she donned her black jeans and a silver parka on her back.

All the teens were attractive but currently they seemed down hearted, or at least three of them did, Ellen still had no idea what was so important about looking for a guy who seemed to like to stay in seedy places if they continued on their current course.

Ellen had been letting the three random mountain teens borrow her car for the day in return for a bet she lost to an obviously cheating boy who could not fool her; no matter how cute his smile was. And they had been talking to a lot of homeless people who had seen a real sasquatch with no shoes or something like that. And then Thalia and Jed kept snapping their fingers in front of their faces and talking quietly to them real quick before they moved on. They tried some of the cheapest or dirtiest motels as well, where cash was accepted but no one had to give a name. Lacy even did some questioning with some voice that was really alluring to Ellen, now she wasn't interested in Lacy that way but with the voice she was using Ellen really wanted to answer Lacy.

"So Cheater, your friend was here but he just disappeared?" Ellen asked Jedidiah, it had been like that since they got down the mountain, Ellen didn't know how but he cheated and he continued to deny it.

"It would appear so, and again I didn't cheat I just get really luck." Jed replied while reaching down for a dime he spotted on the ground unaware that Ellen was checking out his jean-clad bum.

"Then we can check again somewhere later, you all should try some of this market food. Organic and delicious." Ellen had been begging for a break all day and seeing as it was Saturday she had basically dragged the quest to the farmer's market.

Along with her three new friends Ellen maneuvered through the crowds introducing the overloaded Jedidiah and the two chuckling girls to almost everyone as if they all were great friends. There were merchants, farmers and customers that Ellen knew, even half of the street musicians.

And as they walked through Ellen just picked up random things and gave them to the questmates, plates of foods, drinks, fruit, vegetables; she even gave Lacy a new knit hat that looked good on her. These things were either given to Ellen or she traded for them with other things that had been given to her. This confused the three but when they brought it up to Ellen she just laughed a little.

"Everyone loves me here, I mean who wouldn't." Ellen said with a smirk to Jedidiah who had been watching her a little more than what is considered socially acceptable. "Oh, I see someone you guys have to meet, he is possibly the coolest old guy you will ever meet."

Grabbing Jedidiah's jacket sleeve and pulling with a strength that betrays her size Ellen ran through the crowds towards the butcher she had introduced as Mister Z. And while she was running she started to call out to a man in a plaid flannel shirt, "Hey, Mister B.! Wait up!"

The old man turned showing that he was leaning heavily on a cane that his body had hidden. The man was of good height and still strong and healthy at the apparent age of 80.

He smiled at the girl's exuberance, "Miss Wynn are you terrorizing all these kind people again?"

Ellen looked offended, "Mister B. I would never dream of it." She smiled mischievously at that before she realized she had dragged someone with her, "Oh I wanted to introduce some adventurers that I met on the mountain yesterday. We have mister Cheater right here, then Lacy and Thalia in the silver" pointing to each of them in turn. "And guys this is Mister Brodi, old man extraordinaire."

"Pleasure to meet you sir." Lacy returned while Jed scowled a little at Ellen, but what caught Clark's eye was the silver jacket on the raven haired girl, Thalia, a jacket he had only ever seen on one group.

With his suspicion Clark knew he had to make sure if they were or weren't from the legion. It was strange but not unheard of for a Hunter of Diana to be with those on a quest but only because they were told to by the gods. And so as inconspicuously as he could Clark undid his sleeve and pushed it up over his tattoo to see if he could get a reaction out of the children. It would be on them to see it because none of them had their arms showing.

Thalia and Lacy were smiling at the old man and began to speak pleasantries and while they talked Jedidiah turned away from his scowling at Ellen to see the exposed arm of the man revealing a helmet and crossed swords, a staggering tally and SPQR in blatant black. Eye's widening slightly Jed decided to use this as a possible way to find Percy quickly.

"So Mr. Brodi, would you like to have a cup of coffee with us, legionnaire?" Clark smirked at this, the kid had balls but was smart enough to notice his tattoo while both Lacy's and Thalia's eyes shot quickly to his exposed arm.

But with this Ellen just got confused, "Wait, legionnaire? I thought you were a lieutenant Mister B."

Clark smiled at the girl, "This was before that miss Wynn, a long time ago."

The three questmates were sitting in a booth at a quite coffee shop in Portland Oregon with a retired legionnaire and a local girl who had tagged along. But when asked if she should come along Clark had agreed to bring her for an unknown reason. But Jedidiah wasn't going to feed around the bush in the mythological standings; he always hated being discrete with it.

"Son of Mars, legionnaire Brodi?" Jedidiah wasn't being rude in with his tone but rather showing his standing, as a centurion or praetor from former Camp Jupiter would refer to all legionnaire in such a way if not on friendly terms.

"Yes, retired 60 years now. How is New Rome?" Clark asked, there weren't many retirees in Portland and those that were there were all the type that hadn't been back since retiring decades ago.

Lacy and Jedidiah shot each other wary glances, as they didn't know how to tell someone that their old home had been destroyed. "Demolished by Terra during the second Giant war. The legion had left it undefended not believing that it was a target in the war. Now a new camp is opened in Virginia, Camp Olympus. A Greco-Roman camp." Thalia was very blunt and her words appeared to hit Clark hard.

"Destroyed…Giant war… Greco-Roman…" Clark muttered. It was a lot to take in for one that had never thought of New Rome falling to anything after it was built. "So you three, a hunter, a legionnaire and a centurion?"

"Hunter yes, other two no." Thalia remarked tugging on her silver parka.

"The best translation would be a centurion and a praetor really, it is a very different leadership in the camp now. A mixture of Greek and Roman." Lacy replied, indicating to herself for 'centurion' and Jedidiah for 'praetor'.

Jed nodded, "Yeah, with the amount of combined roman and greek demigods and legacies it is easy to fill ranks full so what there is are bunks for each of the gods, major and minor for all their offspring but when a camper reaches 12 then they are offered a place in one of the barracks, similar to the cohorts but there are only four ran by the 'elects', all of us work together for the whole camp but the barracks are the military leaders and the head campers are the elders of each cabin and act as a congress. Lupa and Chiron, trainer from the greek camp, both help with the running of the camp along with the immortalized leaders of the war but they are only there to train us who are the next generation, so to speak. In times of need the 'immortals' as we call them, can call for a draft which will have almost all of the eligible campers in the barracks and training for war but with the last two wars that just happened it would be hard to believe another will come anytime soon."

Clark nodded, processing all of this while Ellen looked a little, if not more, confused. "Wait what wars, no one told me about any war."

"Ellen, we are all children of Greek gods, you know the ones you learn about in mythology classes, the Greek and Roman pantheons exist today and have been living in the united states for hundreds of years now." Lacy tried to explain.

Ellen nodded before she started to shake her head, "I know all that but none of you are making any sense about the wars, no one said there were any wars going on."

"Wait you knew? You already know about the Greeks gods?" Jedidiah was bewildered by this girl who he thought to be a mortal knowing about the gods.

"No I know about the Romans. My mom used to talk about them a lot after her shifts at the museum and then there was Ella who taught me about it all on the roof of the library, well before the kids in the purple shirts took her with them." Ellen seemed to think it was obvious, she had known for years that there were gods out there but had no idea what really happened in that world having never left Oregon before. "What are these wars you keep talking about?"

"There were two wars in the last decade really that could have destroyed life as we know it on this planet, both were really centered around the Greek pantheon." Thalia started to explain about how Kronos and Gaia had both risen despite having been beaten by the gods millennia ago. "It is actually the guy we are looking for that ended both the wars, Percy fought both Kronos and Gaia by himself and won both times to end the wars, and he killed a significant amount of monsters, titans and giants on the way. But he is my cousin, a son of Poseidon who is missing and we have to find him because a goddess needs him now."

 _Son of Poseidon… not Neptune,_ Clark began to think, _that could be it but I am not sure. The wars would describe some of the scarring but not all of it._

"What happened to this Percy? Why is he missing?" Clark asked. If the boy had beaten both Saturn and Terra… well that was more than Clark could imagine.

Thalia looked sad when she thought of what happened to Percy, "Well during the second giant war there was a fight in Rome, the original Rome. And when they were in a cave the floor had collapsed and took both Percy and his girlfriend Annabeth, two of my best friends, down to Tartarus and there was no way to stop it because the rest of the quest were busy with saving _Athena Parthenos_ and they were gone. But the quest fought their way to Greece and found the doors of Death that had been opened and when they made it there Percy had made it out of Tartarus by himself, having carried an unconscious Annabeth the entire way. No one really knows what happened in the pit but it wasn't good for Percy, he wasn't the same when he got out." Thalia had a tear running down her eyes as everyone listened to her, she was one of the experts on the wars having lived in the center of the first and being close in the second leaving her as the best witness besides a few of the immortals.

"But to close the doors of Death one has to die for in as a sacrifice and Percy had to watch as a son of Hades, a boy both Percy and I saw as a little brother sacrifice himself and shut the doors on the armies of Gaia. Then as the war continued more people died, some of Percy's closest friends, his little brother Tyson and then Gaia rose when his mother and stepfather were killed at the base of Mount Olympus." Thalia had many tears running down her face now, thinking of the deaths that had happened in the war and how hard it all was, "Percy went into a rage at that killing Porphyrion by himself and made Gaia fade, both things that aren't possible for demigods. But then again Percy has always been special." Thalia gave a sad chuckle.

 _Tartarus, the pits below hell… now that could have given him those scars._ Clark nodded to himself.

"I may know where this Percy is. Su and I have had a man living with us who I had guessed to be a legacy of Neptune because he had caused an earthquake in our house when he had a nightmare. This might be your Percy but the man hasn't spoken a word since he got here and has shown only fear and sadness. I believe he also has some fear of liquids because he always steers away from it and doesn't drink any water we offer him." As Clark said this all the questmates began to get excited, this could be the soldier of old that they had needed after all.

"Take us there now." Thalia nearly yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the coffee house for a few seconds before they got back to what they were doing not the yelling teenager.

"Now slow down, he is still very easily frightened running over there quickly is not what he needs, I can go and tell him we will have company and you all can come in Ellen's jeep, she knows my address and when you come over then you can see if it is him." Clark tried to negotiate, he didn't want to scare the boy, and "This would be for the best, to take it slowly."

Thalia was about to argue this when Lacy put a hand on her arm silencing her with a look of concern.

"Well I am going to take the groceries home for dinner tonight and tell Su that we will be having guests, and you all can come over in a little bit. We can talk then more about this new camp," and as he stood Clark smiled at the children and walked out, it was then that Jedidiah turned to Ellen rather quickly making her back away from him a little.

"Just how much do you know about the Roman gods? Are you one of us?" he asked.

"Well I know a good amount about them but I have no idea what 'us' you are talking about."

"He means are you a demigod like us? With your eyes I might say Pluto but I can't be sure." Lacy interrupted,

"Oh, so you are all children of gods, that is so cool." Ellen exclaimed, "But I don't really know about all of that. My mom always said I had a powerful father but never who he was so I might be one of you guys. How could I find out?"

"Well we were all claimed at younger ages, I was claimed by my mom at 8 and Jed was claimed when he arrived at 9 and there is a rule that all gods have to claim their children at the age of 13 to make everyone feel appreciated so you should have been claimed." Lacy explained.

"Have you ever seen anything floating over your head or had something appear that wasn't their before, like a gift?" Thalia asked, she had learned who her father was when he told her at a young age when he was visiting her mother again but this seems to be a different case.

"Well… no." Ellen said dejectedly, "I never got anything before and I feel like I would notice if their was something floating above my head right?"

"Generally yes, but right now all the signs are pointing to the facts that you are one of us so if you want it would be best for you to come with us to finish the quest And then we will take you to camp, maybe when you get there you will be claimed, or Chiron will know something." Jed inputted.

"Su, where are you honey?" Clark called into the house, arriving back with an arm loaded with groceries.

"We're in the kitchen dear." Su replied before turning to Percy, "Why don't you go get the rest of the food, he probably bought more than he can carry." Percy nodded and walked past Clark and out to his car to grab the bags of groceries.

But when Clark got into the house he was quick to tell Su that they would be having guests for dinner and that they might know the man. He couldn't share anything else before Percy had closed the front door and they stopped talking about him and started discussing dinner with his wife who was shocked to hear that there might be friends out there for the young man in their home.

"So son, ready to tell me your name or should I start guessing?" Clark asked jokingly.

Percy only shook his head; he was only around to help them out a little as payment for taking him in. Or at least that is what he told himself.

"Well then why don't I try, you look a little like a Peter," Percy shook his head, "Wallace?" _N_ o, "Jordan?" _No_ , "Harry?" _No_ , "Andrew?" _No_.

This went on for a little while, Clark coming up with names and Percy shaking his head, even when Clark started some more 'creative' names, "Ghee Buttersnaps?" "Donut Holstein?" "Tangus?" All receiving shakes in the negative from Percy and remarks of not letting Clark watch television from Su.

But after about 15 minutes it came, "Percy." This one wasn't stated like a question like the other ones; more of a statement and it caused the entire kitchen to freeze. No sounds were made as both Su and Clark held their breaths.

Percy didn't know what to do because he didn't exactly want them to know his name and he was sure it wasn't going to be named but it had and now he couldn't bring himself to lie no matter how easy. He just froze in his spot not prepared for it.

"I will take it from the lack of head shaking that I either finally got it or very close so, Percy it is." Clark smiled at him and Su went back to her cooking, trying to release the tension that had just built around her.

Percy nodded his head almost imperceptibly.

Clark's grin grew, "Now we are getting somewhere." Clark's face became more serious before her continued, "You know Percy I wish you would at least talk to me. It may help you get past what ever you are stuck with now." Clark shot a look over his shoulder at Su cutting vegetables, "A very smart woman once told me that."

"Oh shush you!" Came from the kitchen where Su had heard him, "You are an incorrigible flirt. But he is right Percy, you should talk to us it would help you."

Percy shook his head, letting it out wouldn't help it would only hurt others to know what happened. No one else has to feel the pains that he has felt.

"You don't have to be a hero Percy, it isn't what you need to do. There are people that want to help you. We are just two of them." Clark tried to explain. But there was something that confused Clark greatly; when he said the word hero Percy began to shake. It looked like he was in pain and he was clutching his head making it seem like it was trying to explode.

But that is what it felt like to Percy, he couldn't explain it but he started to feel something when Clark said that they cared but it was quickly replaced by an excruciating pain in his head. And it was because of this pain that he didn't hear a young girl holler into the house as if it were home.

"Mrs. B. I smell your cooking and now I'm hungry!"

Jedidiah had never seen anything like this before, the girl was very brash at times and her behavior changed faster than the time of day. When they were driving over she had been so quiet only asking a few of the standard 'new demigod' questions before going deep in thought, but put her within 5 feet of the door and before Thalia can knock Ellen just burst through the door as if she owned the place.

When the quest mates followed Ellen in they were enthralled with a delicious smell that wafted in from another room where Ellen was heading. When Thalia walked into what she noticed was the kitchen she was met by a small elderly Chinese woman who was stuck between trying to stir something on the stove and hugging the girl wrapped around her. It brought a smile to her face as it would any other person but that smile fell when she saw a form on the couch in the adjoining sitting room across next to Clark who sat on a recliner next to the couch. The salt and pepper hair was reminiscent to Paul, the teacher that Thalia had met on a few occasions but this hair didn't belong to the dead high school english teacher but rather his stepson, and Thalia's cousin.

"Percy?" There was no response but a concerned Clark looked from the man toward the voice to see the girl, Thalia, from earlier on the brink of tears. It was emotional for her to finally to see him but he didn't respond to her. It was Lacy that came in next beaming that they had found him but then saw what he was doing and she got worried. Lacy could tell he was in pain and that he needed help. Jedidiah followed in too and saw the same thing as Lacy.

Ellen and Su followed their sight and saw Percy shaking like that and Su started to move towards the couch. It was then that Thalia broke out of her freeze and she ran towards her cousin in breakneck speed, sliding to her knees right in front of the shaking hero.

But the problem was that no one knew why he was suffering but to him it was like the Styx and sky put together crushing a burning him and even though it was in his head it was as bad as being back in the pit, all the pain. And it only got worse once Thalia tried to touch him and calm him.

Percy's head reeled back and his mouth opened up emitting a sound that could be compared to a gust on the Sahara or Tundra, no moisture. This was all he could do when his body tried to scream and it burned worse and worse.

Su saw and heard this and rushed to get a glass of water, hopefully this time he would accept and not be afraid because he needs something to drink. When Su got in front of him and offered him the glass of water it had already been 2 minutes since he had begun screaming and he didn't stop for another minute when Lacy slapped away Thalia's hand.

"No one touch him, it makes it worse." Lacy demanded in her best voice of persuasion, Lacy didn't actually have charm speech but by pushing her power into her voice she was able to persuade decently with it.

"Percy, I have some water you need to drink." Su tried to offer it to him again but he still held his head in agony.

"Perseus! Drink!" Lacy demanded using as much power as she could, and Percy did respond to that. Now it wasn't that he did what Lacy wanted which everyone in the room would have if she had said it to them but he showed recognition to hearing something and seeing the glass in front of him he did reach out with a shaky hand that when it did have the glass in hand lost a good third of the water to the floor. Percy drank as much as he could choking on the water as it went down his throat and suffering from the pain still.

But now Percy was aware of what was around him, 6 pairs of worried eyes were all staring at him and four of them were from demigods that must have come for him.

"Percy, can you hear us?" Thalia said as clearly as she could trying to break through whatever was happening to him. "Do you know what is happening to you?"

Percy shook his head which still throbbed worse than when Zeus had Athena in his cranium.

"Percy we are going to take you back to Olympus, maybe we can get you some help." Thalia explained before laying her hands on Percy again, causing a more definite scream this time. "Guys help me he is too heavy, Apollo should be able to get rid of his pain if we can get him to Olympus. If we get him outside Artemis will be able to come for us or my dad can transport us."

But as each of the questmates grabbed ahold of the in pain hero he only got louder before his body exploded in power, throwing the 4 teens away from him and into the furniture. The pain was still there but lessening but still there as Percy was able to reel in his head and look around, he had just attacked more people, just like a monster would and the pain only got worse with them around him. But when he saw Clark and Su both close to him and not affected by the show of power they only looked at him with concern.

"Thank you." It was quiet and the voice sounded more like a dying wheeze but those were the only words Percy said to the Brodi's before he jumped out the window from his seat and ran as fast as he could away from people so that maybe he wouldn't hurt them anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

**By CourtingTheMoon**

Ch. 7

Fall to Death and Rise Again

Immortality is a blessing and a curse. It makes it so that you can't die but it makes you unaware of so many things and mortality is the biggest thing that immortals fail to grasp. Watching others die around you makes you feel stronger if you don't care about them enough and for most of the Olympians that is true, some just accepted the nature of themselves and those that died and then there was Hestia. She always cared, for everyone she ever met and never did accept that she had to live through the deaths of any mortal she met. But what none of the Olympians was ready to accept was the fragility of their immortality. They had lived for eons and to see any of them fall for good was just too much. And so all the gods had returned to be with Hestia in case it was too late.

The Olympians were waiting, they knew that it would have to be soon if Perseus was found and were only hoping to get a call from the group or even for them to burst through the door of the throne room. But the ancient laws refused them access to interfering with the quest itself, limiting them to their current state. Artemis was itching to flash to her lieutenant and help in any way, just as any of the gods would but it was the fidgeting Poseidon that was probably the worst. He sat in his throne still and stared at Hestia who was lying just out of her hearth and was being given treatment by Apollo.

It was these surges of godly energy that were keeping Hestia alive at all but still she was in her comatose state waiting for her knight in shining armor. Many could only hope that he would arrive.

* * *

"We have to hurry. Can this go any faster?"

"I know that already! I am going as fast as I can but more importantly, how can he run so fast?"

"He just can but try and catch up I am losing him while he isn't on the roads."

The quest group was using Thalia's hunting sense to track down Percy while trying to follow him in the jeep, but Percy had maintained a lead on them and it was increasingly difficult to follow him as he was running off the roads and they were confined to them.

"Thalia can you manage a whistle, Maximus might be able to hear and come help with this." Lacy called from the back seat while Thalia was literally hanging out the window.

"I'll try!" A sharp whistle was unleashed, obviously enhanced by control of the winds.

For a few minutes it was all the same, a fast pace racing through back roads with Thalia yelling directions to Ellen in the driver seat while Lacy worried that Maximus was too far away and wouldn't make it to them in time. But they were saved by the sound of beating wings not minutes after Thalia's whistle.

"Come on Lacy we can catch him now," the ever impulsive daughter of Zeus yelled as she climbed farther out the window before jumping onto Maximus who had gotten down to the height of the jeep.

Lacy threw a glance to the other two in the car before following Thalia's example but only on to her pegasus. This left Ellen driving her jeep at an accelerated rate with Jedidiah sitting directly behind her.

Jed then heard some mumbling from the driver seat about being left behind as he began to lose any sight of the girls as they were over the trees.

"Pull over, we can catch up on Tiberius and then we'll come back later for your Jeep."

Ellen was weary of this because she had a sinking feeling she would never see her car again but she decided that she would rather be able to catch up and so slamming on the brakes she pulled over. Jedidiah climbed out of the car and in a fluid motion threw his leg over the back of the landing pegasus. And this caused Ellen's eye to open wide, she had never seen a winged horse up close before and then the fact that she never rode a horse before came to her. If she hadn't ridden a regular horse how could she possibly ride a winged horse?

Jed could see the conflict in Ellen's eyes when he looked at her but he had to go quickly so throwing on the most comforting smile he had he said, "Come on, I'll help you."

Ellen couldn't help but trust that smile and moved closer to him reaching for his hand tentatively. And she was lucky that the horses at were so well trained because any normal horse or even the younger of the foals at camp would have skirted away from her with her shaking and the sent of fear on her.

And right when her hand was about to close in on Jed's a lightning quick movement from the son of Tyche grabbed her wrist and threw her up on the back of the pegasus right behind him followed by a quick kick and the pair of teens went from grounded to soaring in 2 seconds. And for the next minute Ellen was clenching her eyes and screaming as she wrapped her arms so tight around the boy in front of her that it felt like she was giving him the Heimlich.

But once the flight leveled out just slightly in which Tiberius was galloping over the tree tops and the girls were in sight Ellen was able to regain some of her composure and start hitting Jedidiah in the back cursing his existence to the both the Roman and the Japanese deities. Jed would have laughed if he wasn't still gaining his ability to breath and having his back pounded wasn't helping. When it was finally settled Jed was able to direct Tiberius on a course just off of the girls. He could see that they were about to turn because of an upcoming mountain face and hopefully with his directions they could catch up.

With the girls it was a different story because they were just trying to stay on Percy, with the help of Maximus and Rosaline they were able to get a visual on him but what they saw wasn't promising. While Percy may be running away from them quickly and at an inhuman pace while he was running he was also clutching his head in pain. And to make it worse he was running with little consideration for where he was running. This was evident in the way that he was hitting his limbs continuously on passing trees and that was throwing off his trajectory by making him turn at near random intervals but it didn't seem to slow him down.

All in all the two were having a hell of a time trying to keep up and on top of him. As well as there being no way for them to land and still be close enough to him. And then the cliff side came out of nowhere causing the pegasi to have to take emergency flying maneuvers for protection.

That threw the girls off making them fall behind slightly as Jedidiah's calculations were right as he continued after the fleeing son of Poseidon.

"I see him!" Ellen called out from behind Jedidiah as he was searching a different part of the underlying forest area and sure enough there he was, having slowed down slightly from his previous pace and now that Jed could see him he could make out his arm or more importantly the bone sticking out of his arm from a compound fracture that must have been caused by hitting either one of the trees he passed or the cliff side that he had to turn at.

The air currents made it difficult for anyone to talk at the speeds and height that the pegasi were going but since Jedidiah and Ellen were both on the same horse they could still hear each other, if just barely.

So Jedidiah was able to hear when Ellen called out again, "It looks like he is slowing down we will be able to catch him!"

It was true that he was slowing down a little but then something caught Jedidiah's attention when he looked up from tracking Percy in his run, they were running out of land to track Percy on. "Look! He is almost out of land!" He called back to Ellen.

The terrain was mostly a northwest forest heavy with pine and fir trees but that was coming to an end because the trees were about to end and open up to a grassy area filled with tall beach grass, the type of grass that thrives in areas with high salt water content like the ocean side cliff that was coming up.

"Isn't that good?" Ellen called back.

"I'm not sure anymore." Ellen couldn't hear what Jedidiah said but he was becoming concerned how this hunt was going to end.

"We might be able to catch him there, start the decent!" Ellen yelled, as Percy was about to burst out of the tree line. And so Jed followed what she said aiming Tiberius to take them down to the grassy area and they were about to land when Percy did crash into the pre-cliff meadow.

Thalia and Maximus were just behind them though, the stallion pushing himself to keep up with Rosaline and Lacy were pulling up the rear. But Percy didn't slow down from his charge, his eyes shut and hands wrapped around his ears as if to stop himself from hearing anything.

As Tiberius was landing Ellen, who must have gained back her muster during flight was already off and running after the man. She knew she wasn't part of the quest but she had always been the adventurous type and she would always try to help her new friends in the most headstrong ways possible.

"Wait Ellen!" Jedidiah called as he jumped off his mount after her. But he couldn't catch the quick daredevil at her pace.

* * *

The Olympic council was having a terrible time, all of Olympus really. The anticipation and worry had been riding up on them; it had been over a week since they had found out about Hestia and the quest was on its fourth day now and spending most of that time crossing the country. It was deep into the night over Olympus, torch fires lighting most everything as the hearth's weak embers were dying along with the tender.

Minor gods and the immortals staying on Olympus were all quiet, many paying respect to Hestia before they retired, some already in Morpheus' realm and the council spending its 3rd night sitting in their thrones eagerly awaiting news.

All of the elder Olympians including Hades were acting like demigods while sitting, twitching every now again as if all of them had ADHD and ADD, Apollo was still crouched over Hestia doing anything and everything he could with his medical practice and great amounts of Ambrosia and Nectar. All others were equally worried and tentative.

But there was some things bothering a certain member of the council, and she was going over several scrolls that she pulled out of a sheath that is located in her throne. These particular scrolls were going over the seismic activity the world had been experiencing for the last decade or more precisely the increase of seismic activities that had been happening for the last 8 years since the end of the war. It hadn't been big differences in the beginning but many had noticed it. The world had been experiencing an increase of earthquakes that Athena had decided to blame of the after effects of Gaea's awakening and later Poseidon's thickheaded-ness, but lately she had even thought of using it to see if it had been the sea-spawn that had been causing it, but she had ruled it out due to it being so wide spread and the fact that it wouldn't have been possible for someone who would have been afraid of traveling over the sea.

The goddess of Wisdom was now trying to busy herself, this was the seventeenth scroll she had read and studied since she had sat down in her throne after Hermes and Apollo had both concluded their runs over the world and the wind spirits had reported nothing.

But the reports were troubling because of the results of these earthquakes. Volcanoes were erupting, several tsunamis and shuffling of the shelves. It was like the world was mixing itself up, or as if it were becoming too chaotic in itself. Neither of which should be possible.

Now Athena was worrying more but there was nothing she could do about it now but chalk it up to Poseidon's emotional turmoil, which was usually seen in the ocean but now must have been far greater now and therefore affecting even more. And Athena may be calculated but she wasn't cold so she knew that it was for the best that she waits to approach Poseidon about it again until after his son had been collected and returned to Olympus.

* * *

Return…Hero…Death…Needed…Hope…Hero…Afraid…Please…Stop…Stop…Death…

Words were bouncing around Percy's head at the moment and that coupled with the fact that it felt like his brain was on fire didn't help. His soul and his mind were fighting each other. One was saying that everything was hopeless and it had been winning for the last 7 years but now the other side had been gaining strength because of the sisters and the Brodi's were both trying to call out to him. His throat had hurt for a little after he was able to get those two words out but now it was ignored over the excruciating pain from his head.

The sisters wouldn't shut up he didn't hear what they were saying just that they kept talking. He was in pain as these two sides of his warred on.

Percy was only just aware that he was running, he had no control over it but he just barely realized that he was moving forward.

He wanted it all to stop but there was something pulling him this way and he heard something like a voice from years ago saying something but he didn't comprehend anything that had been going through his head for the last few hours that he had been feeling this pain.

Maybe soon it would all stop, that would be nice for him. It was all that Percy really wanted, the calm and quiet serenity of nothing would feel very good to him and that is what he wants.

And his head was starting to become a slight amount clearer, and he was able to feel that there was something new in the air something incredibly familiar.

But there were many things that Percy wasn't aware of, like the fact that his arm was broken severely on the left side, he was mumbling everything that he found in his jumbled head and that the reason that he was feeling any peace was that the sea water in the air was trying to help. And another very crucial thing that Percy failed to notice was that he was sprinting, eyes closed, toward the edge of a cliff.

The ocean was calling to him, that is what his father had told him so long ago. That all things from the ocean are called to the ocean back and now it was acting on him. It was a strange experience but the proximity of his mortal enemy was clearing his mind enough to give him enough of a mind to open his eyes. And when he did it was just barely enough time to stop and fall to his knees as he slid forward and ended just at the edge, on his knees, arm broken and bleeding, his own body causing itself pain and he was staring down near 100 feet into the most horrifying substance he had ever seen, the water of the sea that had drown him so many times while he was with his grandfather.

It was a traitor in his eyes, previously it had saved him and healed him but while he was injured and near dying in Tartarus it filled his lungs and the salt burnt his wounds. It was as if the water itself had hated him as much as his grandfather had hated him. It tried to kill him and now he was seeing it again it was terrifying. He had just been able to drink some water not long ago, he was starting to see that water wasn't evil anymore but this sight of the water ramming into the land and reaching towards him with its waves and spray. The black color of the water like the rocks that had cut him, like the iron the burned his soul and like the doors that had locked him inside hell.

It was evil again.

* * *

"Percy!" Jedidiah called as he saw the man fall just short of the cliff edge nearly slide off, but in front of him was Ellen running towards the fallen hero and she would reach him before the son of Tyche, and she was almost there.

Thalia had just landed closer to Ellen than Jedidiah was and started her run and Rosaline was on her decent now but Ellen was already there, seeing he frozen son of Poseidon.

"Hey you, get up. Come on you have to help these people save a goddess." Ellen's brashness was coming out in strides now. It was a tactless approach that she was using but she was going more for the short and effective approach than the tentative pussyfooting that others would try.

But then the worst happened. The ground was shaking, and it was shaking hard. The earthquake was harder than most have ever felt and it threw all the questers too the ground and Ellen fell to her ass right next the oblivious son of Poseidon. Thalia and Lacy were also displaced to their derrieres but Jed was lucky enough to maintain minor footing enough to only fall to one knee. The shaking reminded Thalia and Lacy of the end of the Giant war, how the earth had shaken when Gaea had fallen to her knees but now it wasn't coming from Percy no, it was different and more unstable than the quake that Percy has caused.

To Thalia it felt like the world was falling in little burst that was the shaking but for Ellen and Percy it was different because right before Thalia appeared a crack in the earth and that stretched out quickly and in seconds the cliff side, including her cousin and new friend fell down in front of Thalia.

"NOOOO!" She screeched seeing the last of the two fall just yards in front of her.

But then something rushed past her, a boy that had regained his footing enough to jump off the edge after the two in a way that only an irresponsible and slightly insane boy would think that it was a good idea. Jedidiah hadn't even thought about it though, in seeing how his hero and the new cute girl had fallen he didn't even question it and his gut reaction was very simple. Go.

Lacy and Thalia couldn't move and only one line from the prophecy could go through Thalia's head, The son of Luck falls to Death. While the earth itself was still shaking, the time around these two girls had frozen as they could only stare lost completely in the grief and despair of the moment.

For Ellen though she was experiencing death for the first time in her short life. She didn't have snippets of her life flashing before her eyes or a cathartic moment of realization that made her answer the biggest question of her life but rather life itself slowed down and she felt everything a million times over. She was falling and she felt it the wind, the sea spray, the lack of gravity at that one moment, and the water that was approaching her in an agonizingly slow pace.

Looking to her right she could see Percy falling even with her but he appeared to be frozen still as if he was afraid to die and how wrong she was. Percy wasn't afraid of dying, he would happily accept it over his pain, no he had the realization of where he was falling to and that was terrifying him.

Jedidiah life slowed too, he was diving down headfirst after the two falling figures and he was only hoping, praying to get to them in time. He did realize that he had no plan for this but he was trying the only thing he could try. Throwing his self into the situation and trying for all the luck he could manage that he gets them out of it.

While Ellen was still falling she was starting to see something above the water and could only imagine that she was hallucinating, because hovering there just above the water was an angel, a beautiful, dark angel with wings as black as night. He held his strong arms open as if welcoming her and she couldn't help but want to fall into his arms. She felt a familiarity with this angel and she couldn't place why.

But Ellen wasn't the only one to see this 'dark angel' and he recognized the figure from his statues that border around the funeral pyres that are used to send off the fallen demigods at camp and Thanatos is just as ominous close up as in his statuary, which is to be expected but what Jedidiah saw was that he was looking directly at Ellen. Jedidiah had some hesitant feelings for this head strong and impulsive adrenaline junkie of a teenage girl but he would be a fool to not admit that he liked her and had hoped for a chance to get to know her better and he would be damned if he would give up on her without giving everything he had for the chance to try. And it was all the luck and chance in the world that had allowed him to even get close enough to wrap his fingers around her belt allowing him to pull her up to him wrapping her in his arms while he angled them so that he would be the one to take the brunt of the impact.

But they couldn't fall forever and just before they hit the winged man he faded away before Jed felt the crash into the water and it hurt. The pain was similar to the time that he had burnt the four-leaf clover on the climbing wall and fell onto the dirt around the walls hard. But even that was tiny compared to hitting the concrete like water.

Ellen felt the impact like the time she had done a bad dive off the high boards at the YMCA but she realized that it was the boy holding her that had saved her from even worse pain but the cold water was unforgiving. The chill was quick and unrelenting as his froze them to the bone in seconds making it so the little movement the Jed was able to do after the fall had stole him of his breath and coherence was moaning slightly even as he was under the surface of the dark waters.

But these two weren't like Percy because he felt nothing when he hit the water not really. But he did relive every second of the drownings that had occurred to him, in Tartarus and even in Alaska in the bog. It could best be explained as having a panic attack but as a son of Poseidon his powers didn't allow him to drown or get affected by the cold. But still he was having trouble breathing because of the panic and it was a dire situation that would surely lead to his death.

Jedidiah was feeling similar in this part about dying, he couldn't move and would simply sink until he was drowned and he could only hope that Ellen would make it because of him.

Ellen at the time was actually trying to save them both, she held onto the son of Tyche's arm as she kicked towards the surface but with the variables of clothing, weight and foot wear she was making limited if any progress and would actually put money on her sinking farther into the ocean. But she being the most aware of the three in the water felt the condensing water below her feet. It was as if she had hit the bottom of a cement pool but really it was the water itself that was creating a floor below her and was starting to rise with her and her savior.

Jed actually did feel the change along with Ellen when the water-floor began to rise because besides just hardening the water warmed to a comfortable temperature around them and his body began to fell better, stronger. Opening his eyes in the water allowed Jedidiah to see Ellen holding onto his arm as they ascended but not much else as there was no light to see with.

When the three broke the surface two of them realized immediately because they both took celebratory breaths of cool night air but Percy was still suffering from the panic. His eyes were shooting everywhere but it was like he couldn't see anything. His heart was racing and he still couldn't breathe but he was out of the water and the water floor below them continued to rise as a pillar up to the cliff. Lacy was the first to act in seeing them return from their watery graves, rushing forward and trying to pull them all back onto the land that had only just stopped shaking, all while Thalia couldn't move tears falling fast from her eyes, most from the grief and pain of loss but newer ones of relief in seeing them returned.

Jedidiah was helped up from laying on the water floor and both her and Ellen were escorted to land by Lacy before Thalia stood and the two female questers began to run to get Percy when a new figure rose from the water, this one a merman.

But this was a unique merman, not that any of them had seen many but this one had two tails and green skin but his eyes were the same sea-green as Poseidon's cabin at camp and the same color as Poseidon's eyes. His long black hair was tied into a ponytail and he wore a pearl encrusted crown that while elegant and grand still held a certain modesty to it that was unexpected. This was Triton, son of Poseidon, God of the Navy, king of Atlantis, and brother of Perseus Jackson.

The god picked up the panicking form of his brother and immediately his aura flared out and Percy began to calm slightly with what little ability of healing he had. What he had really done was force some of the senses of a calm sea into Perseus hoping to calm him enough for him to not hurt himself.

In seeing the god Lacy and Jedidiah immediately bowed in recognition, Ellen following their example with little hesitation but Thalia only walked forward with trepidation, hoping to see Percy safe and sound.

And Thalia did get close enough to see Percy, his eyes closed along with any injuries he had received from his running due to the water's healing nature on him. But he was still a new figure to her, he was sinewy and fragile looking. He was skin and bones and covered in now dry dirty clothes far too large for him, thick and matted black facial hair along with long scraggly salt and pepper hair.

"You have found my brother Huntress and I thank you for that." Triton spoke as he began to move forward, water quickly washing over his twin fin legs before revealing human legs still in his green skin color covered in khaki pants that would regularly be seen on the likes of Poseidon. "He has grown weak but the water saved him from immediate death, I believe."

Thalia couldn't speak as she was caught up in her emotions but she eventually found her voice. "Thank you for saving him Lord Triton." And in her own bold Thalia way hugged both her cousins, arms wrapping as far as they could around the taller god and her sleeping friend.

But the surprise visits from the gods wasn't done as a familiar figure reappeared in front of the questers when they were all on the land again. Thanatos stood tall and proud like he usually did his midnight black wings and his dark skin both blending into the night with the limited moon and star light shining down.

Jedidiah feared that the god had come to collect the soul he would have taken if not for him, or even he himself for interfering and subconsciously wrapped his hand around Ellen's next to him while again he and Lacy bowed this time Thalia did bow but Ellen didn't. There was something about this man that felt familiar too and she couldn't figure out why.

Ellen took a step forward before she was stopped by her left hand being held tightly by the new boy she was starting to like a little. After looking at their hands clasped together Ellen looked up at him and smiled before looking back at the familiar angel in front of her who smiled back at her.

And then Thanatos spoke in a deep, deep baritone, "My daughter, you have done well in a task from the fates." This shocked all present except for the god and the sleeping willowy man, neither of which showed any signs of concern, although one wasn't exactly conscious.

"Thanatos, I will leave this quest with you, I must return my brother to Olympus." Triton spoke to his fellow god who only nodded before the god of the sea and his demigod brother both melted into a sea mist themselves and were blown away, apparently to Olympus, leaving four demigods looking to the god of death with the trepidation any would feel in their position.

"daughter…?" whispered Ellen as she looked at the god claiming paternity over her.

"Yes my child. You are one of the few children I have spawned over the millennia and the only one living now. Not many of my children stay in the land of the living this long though, most have joined myself in the land beyond the Styx and experience life amongst the deceased souls that I have shepherded." Thanatos spoke, "Although you are also a child of my roman form Letus but as these demigods have explained to you we gods have found a certain harmony between our different sides although I find that death is generally constant and unwavering."

Ellen could only nod, she never knew anything about her father besides the few times her mother had made very fleeting mentions of him, him being powerful, important, and beautiful were the only things that really made it to Ellen and she could believe that Thanatos matched that description.

Jedidiah though didn't like this, he wanted to protect the girl from death and now her father was death. This made him very confused as well because he couldn't tell if he was supposed to fight the god or bow down and beg for him to let his daughter stay. But neither were necessary as Thanatos just glanced at him before smiling slightly in the same mischievous like smile that Ellen had been using most of the day, although it looked a little scarier on the beautiful death god.

"Relax demigods, you have all done well. I am only the first god that will recognize you all for your great work on this day and many will show their gratitude later for you all have found the hero of Olympus successfully and led to his return home." Thanatos spoke, "And I personally was happy to see my daughter accepted by three influential demigods as well offering her many paths into a better life than many of her siblings."

"Wait, you didn't claim me like you were supposed to." Ellen called out at her father, "These guys explained that all gods were to claim their children by the age of 13 and you didn't." She was angry, she had wanted to know her father and instead she was shunned and obviously forgotten by this rule.

"Actually I did claim you my daughter, it was just that Perseus Jackson never said how a demigod was to be claimed, it was nine years ago when you saw those kids in the purple shirts that took your harpy friend Ella away that I approached one of them after they rescued me from Alaska and claimed you as my daughter to him and simply asked him not to tell anyone as you were safe and I feared how anyone would treat a child of Death." Thanatos smirked slightly, another face that had been seen by the campers on the daughter of said god. "Perseus was hesitant but he agreed as long as I had visited you and I did, I enjoyed your flute recitals when you were younger and your performance as Lady Macbeth was superb in your sophomore year." Ellen was speechless, she had never imagined that she had a godly father but now knowing that he had attended her recitals when she played flute when she was a kid and even the time she was in the schools rendition of Macbeth, it was more than she could have hoped for.

The other demigods felt a few emotions at this, all of them had a small tinge of jealousy that this god had been able to be apart of his child's life no matter how small and theirs hadn't but then they also felt happy for her, they all knew who their parents were from early ages and realized what that meant and she hadn't ever known for all her years of life.

Ellen then realized one more thing, this boy, Perseus Jackson, who had been such a pain to find had also been the reason that her father attended her play and recitals and that to her was more of a reason for her to be eternally grateful than him saving the world, twice.

Ellen finally let go of Jedidiah's hand and leapt forward hugging Death fiercely, "Thank you."

"It is nothing my daughter." Thanatos said stroking her straight black hair, the same shade as his hair and wings. "Now I must continue my duties but I can arrange for my brother to transport you all back to camp where you can then contact your mother Ellen dear, she will worry when you haven't called. Although I did tell her to anticipate this if you were ever found by a group such as this." He said gesturing towards the questmates.

The questers bowed to Death again in gratitude, "Thank you Lord Thanatos." Lacy and Thalia said while Jed just stared at the ground definitely trying to avoid eye contact of any sorts with the god that could kill him by just touching him.

"It will be nothing at all, I find that I am in debt to you for helping what is mine. And I am thanking you in this way." Thanatos squeezed his daughter once more before releasing her. "Your pegasi shall return to the camp easily but my brother will make sure you are all there sooner for her shall use your sleep to do so. This meadow will be safe as you all rest; sleep here and you will wake up in the proper beds back at the camp in Virginia. Hypnos will deliver you there so for now sleep."

And with his words the demigods did all find themselves tired and moved into positions that would be much more comfortable in sleep and all of them passed out except for Jedidiah that is who was blushing that in her tire stupor Ellen had claimed his chest as her pillow. And he was also acutely aware that her father had yet to leave.

"You will treat my daughter well son of Tyche, or I will visit you again sooner than your time." And with those words Thanatos flew off silently and left Jedidiah with a fear in him that now battled the joy he had from Ellen's positioning. And this led to him taking quite a bit of time before he finally fell to Hypnos and was transported to Morpheus' realm.


	8. Chapter 8

**By CourtingTheMoon**

 **Hero of Olympus in Disguise-(Please see the bottom AN to my story Mr. & Mrs. Jackson, chapter 17 if you have any concerns as to why I am updating late)**

Beginnings of pain

There is a feeling one can achieve, a sensation; an impending doom that will loom over you in your last seconds or succumbing to the clarity of calmness. Some few know this feeling well, similar to floating in space and few more know of the sensation all to well. Compare it to the moment, the split-second, before falling.

It is a feeling that can't be contained though, it is rather a feeling, a sensation, an emotion that will leave you forever after that moment, but to feel it perpetually as the darkness surrounds you, it could be compared with death or heaven. Both suit it justly.

Perseus Jackson could feel it in this moment. He couldn't remember much of what happened before this or anything else for that matter. He wasn't sure of much right now but he could tell that he was feeling more at peace than he ever had in his life.

He couldn't see anything as he turned his head from side to side; it was a uniform darkness that was unnatural and hauntingly beautiful.

There was nothing to hear either, a silence held only by the moment before the inevitable but now in an instant of ongoing.

He smelt nothing either, not himself or the area around him.

And he could feel nothing but the sense of flowing along.

In his mind he could see a river and he was riding along it like a leaf. How good it felt to be that leaf, not worrying about anything or needing to feel but only to ride along as the nature of the river pulled it along and forward.

"Why..?" a voice said, at first Percy didn't hear it but when he did it took several moments to recognize it, it was him. He asked a question but he didn't know the answer, he didn't even know the question.

"Why does it hurt?" _But I don't feel anything._

"What should I do?" _I don't know._

"Should I die?" _Why would I?_

"Can I please be happy again?" _I feel fine now._

"Kill Me." It wasn't a question and it scared Percy, why was he talking to himself? Why was his voice saying these things? Was there something else, something he didn't know?

A ripple tore through the darkness bring with it images that caused Percy to flinch back.

It was himself; fires of all different colors were burning him. Knives of all sizes cut his skin; claws and teeth ripped through him and his lungs were filled with water and blood. He would have died many times over if he hadn't been cursed by Kronos, or was it the pit itself, Tartarus could have made him immortal in it's lands so that the despair and anguish never died.

But more images were mixed in, people of all sizes, boys and girls. Some wore purple, they smiled with each other and cheered together, others were in orange they laughed in circles, they cried together in embraces and they hugged him. Then there were dead people, lying in pools of blood but all their faces were easily seen.

He saw everything that happened to him in his life in these images, all that would ever have affected him and he could feel the tears run down his cheeks, this wasn't something he wanted to see, no one would want to relive their life like this, witnessing all the failure and mistakes with no way to fix them and to feel again the tragedy that his life was.

But one image stopped in front of his it was a scene of almost meaningless life compared to what he had just witnessed but for whatever reason it was being lifted to his eyes. It was a picture of a boy just turned 16 sitting on a marble bench with a fire burning behind him.

With a sudden rush Percy was sucked into the image before it all went black again.

He felt the warm marble beneath him, the fire on his back. He could smell the burning wood and hear it crackling. There was a tingling in his back opposite his belly button where the heat reached.

And he felt some emotions come through him; exhaustion, relief, sadness, anger and completion. It was the end of a war, a war that ended with the death of many. It seemed wrong to be happy in any way but it also felt impossible to not feel comfort in knowing that you get to live another day.

There were small steps coming up beside him and Percy lifted his head to see a smaller kid, she looked almost cute, with a small smile on, although it was one of understanding. She wore a simple brown dress and Greek sandals and covering her head was a scarf wrapped around it. Her eyes were smoldering flames, docile and warm, and the hair that showed was a mousy brown.

"You should be proud, if not for yourself than for everyone else." She spoke softly as she took a seat next to him.

"I'm sorry Lady Hestia but war is not a thing to be proud about." Percy responded.

"It isn't but protecting who and what you love is. Holding on to hope and conquering fear too. Everyone in the party now is feeling proud of themselves and many feel proud for all those that didn't make it because it was them that made it possible for them to celebrate." The goddess of the Hearth explained.

Percy didn't want to talk about this but his ADHD prevented him from sitting silently, "Why are you out here with me, you should be inside with the others."

Hestia frowned, "Are you trying to get rid of me?"

Percy had fear run through him, "No, no, not at all Lady Hestia."

"Good," She donned a sweet smile, "I always like the flames though, and fire shouldn't be close to as much alcohol as is in there."

"Oh," Percy responded. His feet started to tap slightly at his restlessness. "Thank you."

"What for?" Hestia asked inquiringly.

"For saving me in this war, if not for you I would have died, either by giving up or by Kronos cutting me open. So if it wasn't for you I would have died several times." He answered.

"That is what family is for Perseus." Hestia smiled up at him; her eight-year-old stature dwarfed by his sixteen year old height.

"I guess, it is just hard to see a family out of everyone here, they are so different." Percy said glancing back at the partying deities and their offspring, "Many of them want to, tried to, or threatened to kill me. And then there is the fact that I didn't even know about them for most of my life. But then again I have always only seen my mom as family."

"Well families fight Perseus, there is no avoiding that, but family always sticks together. That is what I like about you, you have a strong sense of family even when you don't realize it." Hestia looked at him with her genuine smile.

"Will it ever be peaceful for us?" Percy asked her.

Hestia stuck out her lip in deep thought; "Well… there is always peace in the world. Not everyone can find it and there is no given way to, but you will find it in your life, I know it." Looking at Hestia now, it made Percy realize even more how she wasn't the little girl she looked like and rather the intelligent and powerful goddess she was.

"I only want you to remember to look for it Perseus, always remember to look for peace."

It was then that Percy was nearly pounced on by Annabeth, who was all excited about the new plans for Olympus and it wasn't until after five full minutes about explaining the columns of the grand entrance that she remembered that she was supposed to be taking Percy to her mother. Being pulled away by his obviously hyper blond friend Percy was only able to call out a goodbye to Hestia who just smiled and waved at him.

The party continued for hours to come, Percy being dragged into dancing by an over-zealous Apollo, who literally threw him into a group of the nymphs that live on Olympus, all of them wanting their own dance. Eventually he was rescued by a red faced Annabeth who had just come over from a table with Thalia and some of the hunters. The hunters looked shocked, appalled, and angry about something Thalia had said moments ago and Thalia was laughing up a storm.

Percy spent hours with each of his friends, his father introduced him to a plethora of immortals and several of them were very attractive female immortals but Percy just lost himself in the shuffle, eventually being able to escape from it all, excusing himself for a beverage break. But on his way to the refreshments, where Dionysus was loitering, he caught sight of the brazier that he was able to sit at nearer to the beginning of the celebrations, and surprisingly there was a familiar figure sitting there.

Making his way out to the fire-pit Percy spoke, "It looks like someone is avoiding the party, Lady Hestia."

"Like I said Perseus, fire and alcohol do not mix." She played with a smile. "And over there is where all the alcohol is." She indicated to the tables lined around, where Dionysus was still standing, that were slightly blocking the entrance to the grand hall that led in from the garden they were in.

"Oh, well." Percy said, scratching the back of his head. "At least you can still hear the music out here, I always loved this kind of music." He had a small smile on his face.

"Really? What do you hear Perseus?" Hestia asked as the hero sat down next to her.

"Wha… You mean right now, well I can't remember the guy's name right now, but this is the song my mom always hummed when it was just the two of us sitting by the fire at the beach." Percy said, "Yeah cause here is the melody…" And Percy started to hum along with the song that he heard.

"Oh, that is a pleasant song, but Perseus, this music that you hear is only heard by you. This is the music of the Muses, it shall change itself for everyone who hears it." Hestia explained. "But it is very kind of you to have the music you hear when with me being something so sentimental."

Percy blushed slightly at the fact that he did not know that, although he probably should have known seeing as Thalia had been smiling all night and he hadn't heard any GreenDay but she must have.

"I guess that makes sense," Percy said, "What do you hear Lady Hestia?"

"Oh, just this and that. Mostly soft melodies and a smooth chorus by artists that you probably wouldn't like." Hestia replied.

"Oh..." Percy looked at his now swaying again feet before his mind drifted back to why he had left the party, looking back over to the drink table and the cooler filled with different beverages. And without much more than a twitch in his gut a bottle of water slowly rose out of the ice and then flew into his outstretched hand.

This action caught Hestia's eye, and before Percy could even take the first drink from the bottle a soft sound from beside him directed his gaze to the large and asking eyes of the goddess next to him. And the child-like pleading in them made Percy hand her the water before repeating the action again to retrieve his own.

"Thank you Perseus!" and with no further warning Hestia leaned up and placed a small kiss on his cheek raising a blush on his cheeks.

"Lady Hestia, you should call me Percy. We are friends right?" Percy said, looking away from the petite goddess.

"Percy…" she said with a smile.

The end of this war was not so peaceful. Percy still sat away from the party, with a neutral face. But those that really looked could see the empty eyes he held and could see the calmness on his body, just as the sea is always calm before a storm. No, Percy did not feel happy after this war, with the deaths and losses they all found.

Hestia approached him again in a timid fashion, expected from the eldest of the Olympians as she looked on to the spot she had sat after the last war at which her favorite hero sat now. Trying to read what Percy was not saying as he sat in what Hestia would now refer to as his spot, Hestia could not even tell if Percy was conscious as he failed to move or react upon her approach. But it was the end of the war celebration and Hestia needed to see what it was that she could soothe for her favorite hero.

No one could actually hear the music from the celebration this evening as the sun set red on this bloody day. Percy knew what happened around though, could hear the soft crying, the tales of battle and the silent mourning. And he even heard Hestia approaching him on his bench, obviously wanting to console him despite his polite denials earlier.

"Wars never bring happiness Percy." She spoke softly, "But you should be relieved from the worry by the peace that is now upon us."

"I don't worry Lady Hestia," Percy reply was even, more so than anyone's should be after what he experienced and Hestia would later wish that she had heard that, "But I can still hold sorrow and regret in my heart."

Hestia sat next to him without further delay, omitting her general search for approval before seating herself. Once she was level with Percy her arm went over his shoulder to comfort him only to see a flinch from Percy as her hand almost made contact.

"I am so sorry Percy." Hestia said, looking with worry at the young boy.

"No, it's fine. Just, I got pretty burnt out there with everything and so I can't touch anything really. It will pass after I get a few healing sessions and some soaks in the ocean." Percy said while Hestia nodded believing him while he lied through his teeth.

"Well, here." Hestia said holding a bottle of water up to him, "This might be able to help with something, or if you are thirsty or something." As she spoke Percy was having difficulties not flinching from or slapping away the water in front of him.

Percy smiled at her before accepting the water with a shaking hand before setting it down next to him, "Thank you but I am fine right now."

Hestia looked at him in worry as she took his shaking as injuries that affected him from the war. "Would you like to have some ambrosia or nectar? You should be able to handle a few more squares and a cup." Hestia was not used to playing the role of nurse but at the moment that was how she felt.

Percy looked at her with the most reassuring smile he could manage, "Now it is you who is worrying too much. I am doing fine and this war is over, time is all I need." Percy stood up putting his back to Hestia, "Now I must go, Apollo asked me to have one of his children check my injuries after an hour of rest. Please don't worry about me Lady Hestia." And with those words Percy walked away from the dejected goddess.

Hestia watched as the hero stepped away and sighed before turning her attention to the miniscule hearth that she needed to tend, not noticing that Percy was not actually heading towards any form of medical attention and was rather heading towards the elevator that lead to the city of Manhattan below.

Percy's mind jumped and wavered as his life seemed to condense itself into three seconds, and all his senses were again taken from him by the darkness. But this darkness was not the one that he was in before, that one was not charged with his past experiences, a pure darkness. No this darkness was absolute and was calling out to him just as it had when he was held prisoner inside Tartarus.

Panic set in now, everything was fresh and raw in his mind. As he let the sorrow and pains enclose on him Percy let out a guttural and primal scream.

All those years on the run and hiding had buried his pain, no matter how prevalent it was the pain he felt those many years was no where near his true pain and sorrow. His suffering had been put down when his hid it and only now was it truly being experienced. His scream continued as his world began to brighten, the pain of screaming was not even noticed in the fog of suffering, and his ears did not realize that no sound was coming out anymore.

The world of black and nothingness gave way for a solid white light blinding him had he been giving any notice to his surroundings. However Percy was not close to becoming conscious of his self nor the environment he was in. Surrounding himself in the ignorance of pain.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hero of Olympus in Disguise: Okay, so… hi? I haven't read the story in a while… phew, let's hope I'm not too bad, please be generous and keep in mind I'm trying to get used to this writing style. All authors are different and I am trying to stay as close to the original as possible. I am currently analyzing and taking notes of the story, so hopefully I get better by the chapter. This is my first official, original, chapter in the story. Enjoy!**

While in the realm of Morpheus, Perseus was moved onto a stretcher in Apollo's palace. The sudden movement made Percy groan in excruciating pain as his brain and nerves caught up with the recent events. No one knew of the arrival of Olympus' savior, causing great grief and despair to remain in the heavy air of the home of the gods. Triton did his best to ensure the wellbeing and security of his half-brother, and dissolved into water, transporting himself to the middle of the throne room.

"My Lords and Ladies," he took a knee, "I am grateful to be here before you today to announce astounding news: the quest of the huntress and her friends has been successful. The discovery and retrieval of Perseus Jackson has been achieved."

As the sound of his son's voice reached his ears, Poseidon shot up from his throne, a sense of euphoria and hope swelling up in his chest, waiting to be released. "My son, Percy, is he okay? Can I see him?"

"Brother," Zeus said in an urgent tone, nodding his head toward the side of the room.

Poseidon pivoted around to face his brother, mouth agape, prepared to start howling obscenities at his much younger brother. He cut himself short with the look on his family's face and turned to see his beloved sister on the floor, shivering despite the horrifying fact she was almost lying on the hearth. Apollo started to panic, stuttering out that he didn't know what else to do.

In a state of urgent haste, Poseidon scurried forward, nearly falling to his knees beside his sister. He noticed the way her teeth were chattering; the way she seemed to be blindly searching for something more; the hopelessness in her features. Gently, he picked her up bridal style and faced his son, not even having to open his mouth for Triton to nod his head, "He is in Apollo's infirmary."

Nothing more was said.

Worried that teleporting would inflict harm upon his sister, Poseidon along with Artemis and Athena galloped to Apollo's palace, stampeding inside and assaulting the door with his shoulder, busting the door off its hinges and showing an equally shivering Percy.

Percy had curled himself into fetus position, his arms wrapped around himself and his mouth skipping open and closed, murmuring beneath his breath. Poseidon had merely a second to relish the presence of his long-lost son before he started to feel Hestia slip from his grasp, though he grimly noticed she had not moved an inch from where he held her close to his chest.

With long, powerful strides, he placed his fading sister beside Percy on the semi-large bed. Hestia, almost like a plant, instinctively wrapped her arms around Percy, as if he were her sun, and began to pull him closer to her. Together, they both faced the end of their cold and shivering and slept peacefully in each other's arms. Percy, face buried deep into Hestia's abdomen as he gripped her shirt tightly, shuddered against her, his enemies chasing him in his dreams.

Poseidon, sweating not from the run but from the anxiety and adrenaline that was pumping through his body not too long ago, heaved a long sigh before slumping, glad to have saved his sister. Although the process was fairly slow, he noticed how Hestia no longer looked pale, was no longer shivering, and seemed more at peace than before. She was holding Percy the same way she was holding Pandora's Pithos not too long ago.

"What do we do now?" He asked.

Athena furrowed her eyebrows together. "Now…now we wait."

 _Percy felt the wind fight against his face as if he were on a rollercoaster, though it seemed to him he was in the middle of nowhere. He looked down and saw no ground, just darkness. He looked up and left and right but only to see the same as when he looked down._

" _Perseus," three voices called out._

 _On his bony and skinny legs, Percy turned around to confront the Fates._

" _Hero of Olympus, your services are needed once again. A threat looms, you are the only person who can end this threat. It is now your time, you are needed once again in the world of the Greeks."_

" _What?" Percy stepped forward, the three sitting elder ladies seemed to move back. "No, no no no no no no. I-I am_ not _a hero. Not anymore. I'm afraid of the one thing that made me a hero, I'm worthless. Just let me die already!" He continued to repeat the last sentence, banging on an invisible wall and wailing for his end._

Percy and Hestia remained in bed for days, recovering from different things. On the third day of recovery, Poseidon entered that very evening to find Hestia and Percy talking, their voices barely above murmuring.

"If I had known my life was going to be as tumultuous as it has been, I would have taken my own life."

"If there is one thing I have learned in my millenia of life," Hestia responded, hugging Percy close for security, a small taint of pink on both of their cheeks, "it is that for every bad memory made, a good one is sustained."

"More like, for every ten bad memories sustained, one good one is made."

"Which makes them all the more precious, does it not?"

"...it does."

The conversation ended. Later on, when Apollo entered to replace the drained IV bags, he found them both asleep, just as he found them three hours prior.

 **(What do you guys think of how I'm doing so far?)**

It is hard to think that the survival of your child depends on the fading life of your sister, and that the fading life of your immortal sister depends on the survival and recovery of your son. It brings the inevitable feeling of hopelessness, and it makes you feel so worthless and helpless that you feel your knees turn to jello as you fall to the ground, trying to hold in your sobs and cries. For days on end the entire Olympian family has been in a constant motion of haste and timelessness. The questers were sent back to Camp Half-Blood, Thalia being promised constant updates of the progression of her cousin. The demigods were restless, legs bouncing as they sat, fingers tapping, and minds running. The gods did feel a sense of relief as Hestia was brought to a more... solid state.

It was in the middle of the night, everyone was asleep, Percy was tossing and turning, sweating and mumbling under his breath, breathing quickly. He pulled from Hestia's grasp and faced the ceiling, hand gripping his neck, choking himself. His eyes snapped open.

The greatest one was awake.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello fellow readers, you** _ **cannot**_ **begin to imagine how much notes I wrote down. Literally, about four pages worth of notes. Arrows all over the place… notes are necessary. I took notes of everything I thought important in the story so hopefully I get better at a quicker pace! Sorry I'm late! I seriously am. I don't have any excuses nor do I want to give any I just have a lot on my plate right now. Hope you enjoy.**

Percy gasped as he felt his body being controlled by itself, his fist closing around his neck. Suddenly, the panic started to fade as a lust for his end filled his eyes. Even though he couldn't control himself, he was prepared to accept his end.

Little by little he started to drown. The madness was starting to wrap around him like the vines of Demeter.

With his free hand he started to grasp at empty air, his arm flailing around and unintentionally skimming over Hestia's face. The small disruption caused the half-faded Hestia to awake. She turned to confront the commotion occurring beside her. Her eyes widened. She rolled over and started to pry at his hand, pulling and pulling, but in her weakened state, she could do nothing.

Suddenly, everything stopped. It was as if nothing happened. Percy's grungy face relaxed and turned back to its pale state. Hestia sighed in relief. They both went back to sleep.

. . .

"Why did you run away?"

No answer.

"How are you doing?"

No answer.

"Where were you?"

No answer.

"Will you ever talk?"

Thalia sighed as she asked yet another question that was replied with silence. She looked at her younger cousin and ran a hand through her raven messy hair. Earlier when she had walked (okay okay, _ran_ ) in, she had tried to hug him but he scooted away. She had to keep her distance.

Percy would just nod his head yes or no, making Thalia even more frustrated, and yet relieved at the same time. _What a paradox._

"Thalia," came a deep voice, said daughter of Zeus looked up, recognizing the voice as the young hero's, but turned to see it was actually Poseidon.

"It is time to go."

. . .

Percy felt hopeless. He felt hopeless, helpless, monstrous, doleful, he felt many things. Unwanted, un-needed, hollow. He wanted to take a sword and stab it through his heart. Deep down he begged for something or someone to come and end his suffering. He. Just. Wants. It. To. _End._

He felt a dam build in his throat and a pressure between his eyes. Life seemed just so _fucking_ frustratingly hopeless, he wanted it to end. _Please,_ he begged some higher power out there, _please end my suffering. Haven't I been through enough?_

He covered his face with his hands as his eyes tried to adjust to the dark, empty room. He couldn't stop it. Being emotionally unstable is a beating to _everything._ A sharp cry was heard in the echoey room as the savior of Olympus let everything out.

"I just want it to end!" He raked out. There was a thud as he brought his fist down on his own leg. A vein started to strain on his neck and his body was covered in a layer of sweat.

 _End. End. End. End._

He kept inflicting harm upon himself. He grunted as he applied more force to his punches.

 _Let's play a game. How long until the young demigod realizes he's too weak to put so mush as a bruise on his own body? How long until he realizes that not only is he harming himself, but those around him as well? Winner gets a grand prize!_

His fist was about to come into contact with his bony leg when a small hand landed on the target. Panting, he looked up but found himself having to push his hair up to be able to find whoever it is that interrupted his self-misery session. He came eye-to-eye with the warm glow of Hestia's irises. Her hand reached up from its small perch on his thigh and trailed up to his cheek, wiping away a tear he was not aware of.

"Why do you cry?"

He closed his eyes, allowing himself to relish this rare moment. Then it felt like fire was set onto his skin as he jerked his head back, reminding himself of the monster he is. He turned away.

 _No,_ he mentally scolded himself, _don't let her in you stupid fool. You'll only hurt her, just like you have hurt everyone._ Monster. Another tear escaped.

He watched as it splashed onto the bed, wishing it could be him splatting and ending. Warmth spread through his chin as he felt Hestia's hand wrapping around it. Her thumb stretched out as it wiped away yet another tear.

 _Don't let her in, don't let her in. Don't let her in, don't kill her. Don't hurt her. Don't love her, don't hurt her. Don't get close to her, don't hurt her. Don't even think about her, or you'll only hurt her like the monster and murderer you are._ Push. Her. Away.

He looked into her chocolate eyes. _She's so innocent. Don't ruin her. Don't touch her. Don't look at her. Don't hurt her. You can't help anyone, you can only destroy. You are a machine made to bring forth death and hatred and mourning._

"For many reasons I'm afraid," he croaked. He clutched his over-sized shirt over where his heart should be.

 _I don't have a soul nor do I have a heart. I don't have anything. I don't deserve anything. Not a future, a past, a present, or a love. I only deserve death._ He felt the darkness slowly drowning him. He could feel the claws of evil breaking into his skin. Fear never let its presence within him be forgotten.

Hestia wrapped her arms around the young man, rubbing soothing circles on his back to console him.

Every circle felt like another ring of hell fire being poured over him, nevertheless he closed his eyes to withstand the pain.

 _Pull back, you hurt her. Keep her close, you hurt her. Gods…_


	11. (Not Quitting, Kick-start)

**Sorry for the late update, life's been very stressful. Anyway, guess what! In one week I'll be free so hopefully that means more frequent updates! (PS I'm not quitting the story, I just had a lot to do these past weeks. I was busy.)**

Percy and Hestia stayed silent. None of them spoke, but they knew Hestia would be leaving soon. Despite their constant attempts, Hestia was not getting better. She was not getting worse, but she was not progressing.

Percy sighed as he sat up on his cot, Hestia having been escorted to the throne room to say her goodbyes just in case. Barely managing to support his own weight, he stood up to limp over to the door, expecting someone to be keeping guard.

He gave the wooden door a small knock. "Hello?" He leaned his forehead on it. "Anyone there? If there is please I need something to eat."

A few minutes later a platter of meat with rice and beans appeared. Sighing, he ate half of his portions, pushing the rest aside.

 _One week,_ one week they had been here in Olympus and after he tried running away four times, he gave up. He settled for simply just… existing.

He no longer did anything to make his mark on the world, so to him, he was just existing—taking up an empty bit of space. He didn't cut meat for people to eat, kill monsters to keep people safe, pick up garbage so the earth can be clean, he didn't even die to be able to have another human being or demigod be born.

Well, he wouldn't die even if he tried.

He couldn't.

He groaned in frustration, slapping his hands over his face. _He couldn't even effing die. What in the name of the gods could he do right?_ Hestia had tried desperately to drive those thoughts away, and it works, but only for while he is in her presence. All efforts be damned when they're not in the same room, he would take advantage and mope and cry and fantasize about death as much as possible. Don't even discuss the Fates in Percy's presence, he would scoff and curse them to Hades. Poseidon and Thalia both worried for Percy, being the only ones aware of just how depressed the young man had become. Apollo and Hermes tried to take him to have fun, killing monsters and attending parties. The former causing him to curl up into a ball and beg an imaginary Annabeth for forgiveness as a whip that was never there met with his clothed skin.

Sighing, Percy took a glance at the clock. It was nearly time for Hestia and Percy's routinely outing.

Turns out the gods love to play matchmaker. Too bad Hestia was this centuries' pawn.

Percy dressed into some regular jeans and a graphic tee shirt, both articles of clothing seemingly loose and casual wear. Moments later Hestia walked in, and they both sighed as they tried to please the Olympians and headed for Central Park.

 **Okay, sorry for the shortness but this chapter is just to help kick start me back into the story. Thanks for sticking with me guys!**


	12. Chapter 12

"Thanks."

Percy and Hestia were at Central Park in the mortal world. Conveniently, there was an ice cream stand just a block away and so naturally, Hestia and Percy had gotten themselves ice cream cones. Hestia a single scoop of vanilla, and Percy a scoop of mint chocolate chip. Over his dress shirt and pants, he had on a coat for the chilly night breeze. Hestia had on a nice blouse with shoes and nice jeans with a nice jacket on top. For the sake of the gods, Hestia and Percy had looped arms, admittedly, blushing just a tad bit. Percy didn't know if it was Hestia's doing or the familiar air of New York, but he felt more relaxed than he had felt in years. The smell of NY was so foreign and yet so familiar at the same time he had no idea what to do.

As they walked around, he sensed a small body of water and directed Hestia the other way. They ended up in a tree-y area and Percy smiled. Stripping himself free from his coat, he rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt and looked over to Hestia, finishing up his ice cream. "I wanna show you something," he said to her, observing the tree. Hestia prepared herself to catch his small, frail, recovering body. She finished her ice cream in anticipation as she saw Percy slip the leather belt free from his pants, wrapping a bit of each end onto his hands after wrapping it around the trunk of the tree. He started to climb up the tree, and Hestia watched as he took on the small challenge with every swing of his arms, step of his feet. Most times he grunted, but was otherwise silent. "When I was younger," he grunted out, "I used to come here and look for a decent tree," he pursed his lips a bit when he had to shorten his belt as the trunk got thinner. Hestia nodded, and watched as he climbed, reaching and passing the first branch. "I used to climb it and—and uh, skip stones from there. Or just hide from Smelly Gabe. He was a real nuisance. Heh, guess he would say the same 'bout me. Anyway, I used to always promise myself that when I get married or fall in love or whatever, that I'd take my love interest up here and watch the view." Hestia couldn't help but think of how raspy his voice had become, but it was much better than before. Their sessions were working. After settling himself in a very sturdy branch, he motioned Hestia up. After tossing him his coat, she herself climbed up the tree, not bothering to teleport herself there. When she almost fell off, Percy set an arm around her waist to steady her, and didn't bother pulling back. They talked and laughed for hours, watching as the last bit of sun went down and Artemis showed herself in the disguise of the moon. Hestia ended up resting her head on her companion's shoulder, this contact the most contact they've given each other that's more than "friendship touch."

As Hestia recalled an old memory, Percy zoned out a bit as he noticed a small pebble dancing on the ground. His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he stared at the river-dancing pebble. He looked around and found a few leaves shaking themselves free from the trees. His head snapped down and he looked at the shivering trunk of the tree they were currently sitting in.

"...came to ask for assistance..."

"Hestia," he cut her off. "Hestia, I think we should head back for Olympus, continue there."

"Why?"

"There's about to be a big earthquake."

She gasped, a hand flying to her mouth. Instantly, she nodded her head and prepared to descend. She was too late.

Percy tried his best to speed it up, to slow the earthquake down, to not panic.

But as he said, he's not a hero. He's a murderer, a monster.

He screamed as the earth shook, revealing a gaping mouth of earth, ready to swallow and chomp on anything that falls into the black hole. Hestia lost her balance, and held onto the tip of the branch with a single hand, trying to hoist herself back up. Fear was in her eyes. Percy lurched forward to grasp her hand.

Their fingers met.

And then, she was falling. Percy threw himself after her, but watched as the mouth closed in on itself, taking her into the void of the unknown. He fell onto dirt with a loud thud, bruising his body.

Everything went silent, as if the world was holding its breath to see his next move. Screaming and crying and wailing, Percy punched and punched the ground. Punching and punching, spitting and yelling. "Giver her back!" he yelled. "Give her back and take me!" he tried to compromise. He clawed and punched at the ground, trying to save the fading goddess.

But Percy isn't a savior. He is a monster, a murderer, and a failure.

His knuckles split as he continued to attack the ground, and a mass of blood flowed from his fist to the cracks in the ground, trickling in little by little, feeding the earth. He passed out.

* * *

In the darkness of space, a man with a suit displaying the universe and its beauty, nodded his head. His white eyes shifted from his view on the white, blue and green planet and focused straight ahead.

"So a successor has been chosen for Queen of Earth, I see," he turned back to see his second in command bowing before him. "My Lord," the man in amour started, "The Scrolls have awoken. They read that trials for the new successor shall take place. It will be like nothing they have ever seen before. What shall we do?"

The man with the space suit and white eyes walked over to sit down on his throne. "Now," he stroked his chin as if it contained a beard, "we watch, and we wait," he ordered, sending his second in command to continue his duties and reinforce the army.


	13. Chapter 13

Percy tried to run—he did, he really, really did—but the gods were able to find him before he was able to get far. Now he sat in bed, his face not being shaved in days—weeks—months? and his body on the verge of reverting to its old state.

His mind was ahead of his body.

He sat and pondered that day's events. Replaying the situation over and over, spotting every detail. From his and Hestia's heights, to the weather down to the height of every blade of grass. He could not find a way to undo what had been done, and remained completely miserable.

 _Good job, Perseus._

His head snapped up at hearing the voices of the Fates.

"What? Good job? Good job? Hestia is gone! And it's all my fault."

 _It had to be done._

Percy felt it, the moment they left his head, but he pushed forward, reaching out, _searching_ for the answer to his questions. "She's gone!," he repeated over and over. And "Give her back!," "What do you want?"

He was going insane, he felt it as the darkness clawed to crawl under his skin. Apollo teleported in, feeling the raw amount of power, and closed his eyes, looking away, as he gave Percy a sedative.

. . .

"What are we going to do with him?"

"I can feel the madness, _drowning_ him. It's nothing like I'd ever seen."

"The boy had had a knack for doing the impossible."

The gods all looked at one another at Ares' statement, wondering if Poseidon would retaliate. The poor God of the Seas was too deprived of rest that he didn't notice. The meeting continued. Dionysus then continued to show the gods a fraction of Perseus' madness, and as the gravity of the situation suddenly dawned on them, they looked to their king for a reaction.

"Well, I say the boy is too dangerous to—"

"Percy is under the protection of the Fates. He hasn't eaten for months and yet he is still alive. Not even a demigod as powerful as him could survive for that long. He even slit his wrists. No blood." Apollo stepped in to protect Percy from a kill order issued by his father. Zeus knew he would not be able to go against his son: Artemis would join her twin's side, and so would Hermes. Aphrodite would side with Apollo due to the oh-so-great love story Percy and Hestia had created. Poseidon would also side with Apollo—who stood for his only son—and therefore would bring Demeter to their side. Zeus wasn't sure who Athena would side with, due to the fact she never agreed with the relationship her daughter and the boy had once had. Ares, he knew would side with Zeus, if only for the thrill of the kill. Hephaestus was also another unpredictable Olympian. Zeus looked over at his family, and realized that the only ones he had at his disposal were Ares, possibly Hera, possibly Athena (who he knew is impossible to persuade) and possibly Hephaestus. These were odds he did not like the look of.

"Very well," he concluded, "though the boy, as you must know, is now in your care. If he falls, you must be there to catch him for I will not hesitate to make sure he falls, and that he falls hard. Understood? Dismissed."

The Olympians teleported out one by one, leaving to attend to their duties. Poseidon sighed as he repeated the threat to Triton, who grit his teeth.

. . .

Percy's dream:

 _"Daddy!" Percy—shocked, turned to find himself in Hestia's palace, where a duplicate of himself sat on a couch, ignoring the adorable little girl calling to him. He stepped forward, about to yell "Hey! She's talking to you man, don't ignore her. Would Mom approve of that?" but stopped when he saw the face on his dream's self. It was almost as if he were looking at a mirror. His eyes were empty—foggy even, with rage buried deep inside. He had grown facial hair and looked—defeated. His dream self snapped out of it, and let the small girl jump into his lap. He smiled a smile that barely reached the surface, as the little girl played with the curls of his long hair._

 _"Hey, Princess. Where've you been?"_

 _"With Mama," the girl answered. Percy squinted his eyes, seeing a familiarity in the young girl's chocolate brown eyes._

 _"We've got ourselves a tough one, strong and brave, she is," along with his dream self, Percy turned to face the door._

 _There stood Hestia, her chocolate brown eyes warm, and gleaming with pride and happiness._

 _And love._

"Oh my Gods," Percy panted as he sat up.

"I'm a monster."

. . .


	14. Chapter 14

**I am soooooo sorry. Jesus how time flies by. Oh gosh, I've got a major case of writer's block.**

"I'd like to train."

The Olympians seemed taken aback that a low demigod was able to sneak into the throne room in the middle of a meeting.

"Oh?" Zeus raised a brow, "and why, may I inquire, is that?"

"To prove myself worthy."

"Worthy of what, my child?" Poseidon cut in.

"Worthy of the love of my child; the creation of the love Hestia and I share." Athena did not miss the use of present tense.

"That is impossible, Hestia was pure. She always has been and will forever remain pure. Both in memory and in being."

"I agree," said Percy, "though this child was—from what I have gathered—born by love and the joining of our blood. I wish to learn and train before the arrival of the child. I shall even train with Ares if I am required."

Zeus played with his chin, pondering.

"Alright. You are required to train with each and every one of the gods you see here before you today, spend two months with each one, learn their ways, and then you will be tested. If you pass, you will have full custody on the child."

"I accept," he bowed. Though one could see the vein popping in his neck, showing how much pain it caused him to hold himself back.

 **Three months later: After training with Demeter.**

" _Papa! Papa! I'm hungry," the little girl giggled. Percy watched as his dream self fixed up a sandwich for the chocolate eyed girl._

" _I'm glad to see you're improving," came a voice from behind him. Percy turned to see a smiling Hestia, her eyes shinning with approval._

" _That I am," Percy smiled._

" _That is good, Perseus," Hestia walked behind him to place a hand on his shoulder._

" _When will you come back?"_

 _Hestia frowned. Within every dream he would ask the same question, and she would answer the same answer. "I can't."_

 _Then—_

" _Why not?"_

" _Because I simply can not. This is why I am sending Jessica, alone."_

 _And just like every time, Percy would enjoy his last few moments with Hestia. They laugh, they cry, they talk and they shout. They hug and they enjoy their time together._

 _And then Percy is ripped away from the dream._

 _He awakens._

 _And is pulled into reality._

Percy sighed as he sat up in bed, his covers thrown off of him and his body drenched in sweat. His mind drifted off to his dream throughout the whole morning as he prepared for his training with Athena. So far she had him study and break down and improve war strategies from the past millennia, and also how to take care of a child. She also taught him psychology, how to read your enemy, and basic math and science skills. Today she was going to give him his weekly test on what he has learned so far.

Percy couldn't take the torture.

 **(Got stuck here. Curse you, writer's block!)**

 **Short. I'm sorry.**

 **School.**

 **Sucks.**

 **Soooooo much work. I'll try to start a better schedule so I can type longer chapters. And onto the Percy Jackson books once again! For inspiration!**


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